


Tied to The Spring

by bittersweet_skylines



Series: Tied to The World [1]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: 1920s, F/F, Impulsive Decisions, Inconsistent Accents, Mostly Platonic, Period Piece, Period-Typical Homophobia, Short Chapters, brief mention of falling out of a tree? purposely?, but its minor, could be read with romantic undertones, good sibling bonds, kind of, original i know, platonic friendship, tuck everlasting!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-06-23 01:25:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15595185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittersweet_skylines/pseuds/bittersweet_skylines
Summary: 1832, the Jacobs family drank from a spring that ultimately changed their lives. Thanks to that spring, the family never aged.Now, it's 1923 and the family is reunited for two short weeks after ten years of being apart. However, things quickly shifts as Sarah meets a girl by the spring that no one should be near. The family isn't supposed to make friends around their home, but the temptation is there, and the harmless family reunion goes just a bit sour.





	1. Prologue

Eighteen Thirty Two, the Jacobs family, after having to relocate thanks to one David Jacobs, stumbled into a forest, hoping to find some land to settle on. Instead, they found themselves running low on supplies and thirsty as ever in the hot, summer heat.

It was Les, the nine - _but almost ten year old_ \- who had spotted the spring first, and without thinking, decided to practically dive into it, drinking it in and swimming with all his clothes on.

Protests from his family rang out- considering how stupid it was to just _drink_ unknown water from a pond. However, after they neared it, Mayer, the father, decided it was safe, much to dismay of their Mother, Esther, who was scowling at the boys as they all drank, Les tugging David in with a loud laugh.

Sarah, seventeen and desperate to join them, looked to Mother with a hopeful face. Esther simply shook her head, before looking to the boys, then back to Sarah.

“Drink if you must… do _not_ get your dress wet,” she warned. Sarah sighed but nodded, approached the water and drank. At that point, Miles, their brown siberian cat had joined beside her. Sarah pleaded as the boys continued to swim, before Esther finally gave in, letting her swim after slipping into a tattered nightgown behind the trees.

They ended up spending the entire day by the spring- Mother eventually giving in and drinking the water close to night fall.

The next morning, the family suspected nothing about the fountain. The horse drank from the water, and then they continued on their way, eventually finding a place to settle and built their family up.

They settled down somewhere nice, but not six years later they were driven out due to the fact that Les, the youngest, hadn't seemed to aged at all in years. The town quickly became reckless, and were convinced the family was evil. 

Once they had relocated again, in between two small towns in the middle of the same forest where it all started, they finally connected it back to the spring. Once they did, David and Mayer did their best to make the spring look as unappealing as ever, doing whatever they could to it and vowed to do their best _not_ to let anyone else drink from the cursed thing. Or anywhere near it, if they could help it.

Of course, they did their best, but sometimes their best wasn’t perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Welcome to the story. Crappy prologue I know, but gotta start somewhere I guess haha. 
> 
> You can follow me on Tumblr if you want, I'm pretty active there and I mostly post musical stuff so there's a bonus! I keep people updated on there and sometimes ask for others opinions on stories and such. [ @Bittersweet-skylines ](https://bittersweet-skylines.tumblr.com/)


	2. The Train Station

The train smoke obscured the station as it began to move again, moving on to collect and drop off the next set of passengers. Sarah hummed under the loud rumble of voices as she glanced around nervously, her hand clutching the worn handle of her trunk, which was tattered and likely on it’s last few trips. Unless the train had been delayed, David and Les were supposed to be coming in within the half hour. All she hoped was that they would be able to find her through the crowds. 

A man knocked into her shoulder, grumbled something inaudible and Sarah took that as her cue to move. 

Adjusting her overcoat, an old tattered maroon thing that had once belonged to David, and was maybe close to forty years old now, she collected her things and moved to a vacant bench just off the platform. 

For a minute, she thought about just watching as people went by. Chances were she would be able to spot the boys before they did her. She loved them dearly, she did, but Les wasn’t the most observant person in the world. Neither was David, really. Smart- but very well blind. She made a note to establish a better meeting place next time.

Much like it normally did, people watching became boring rather quickly. Sarah propped her trunk on the bench next to her and gingerly opened it, making sure it was the right way before she did so, and pulled out the book she had placed neatly between a small velvet box and a second dress which she only really wore when she needed to clean the one she was wearing. To her liking, it was too long. As soon as she noticed the normalization of shorter dresses, she took to it and trimmed hers. She lost the lace design along the bottom, but it had been long since salvageable. 

She pulled out her book,  _ Women in Love _ , and opened it to the page she had neatly bookmarked with a bluebird feather and continued where she left off. It was originally quite interesting, but after four read throughs, it had lost its touch. Still, it was better than nothing. 

She licked her thumb and flipped the page, crossing her leg over the other as she relaxed back into the white iron cast bench. 

“Mind if I sit?” a voice asked. Without glancing up, Sarah nodded. She didn’t care for a conversation with a stranger, and she didn’t intend on it. There was silence for a moment, before the man spoke up again. 

“It’s been awhile since i’ve been here, ten _ years _ , in fact… Good to be back… You from around these parts?” the man asked. From the corner of her eye, she watched as the man shifted a bit. She was sure it was more towards her, which screamed nothing but danger. Still, she kept calm and took a deep breath. This wouldn’t have been the first time this happened.

“No offense sir, but I ain’t interested in no drugstore cowboys,” she said politely, once again flipping the page despite having not finished reading. She needed to show her disinterest of the situation. 

“Well my I sure hope so Sarah,” the voice laughed, suddenly a lot softer and playful than before. At that, she shut the book and looked directly at the person sitting next to her. 

Instantly, both their faces lit up in huge smiles as they stood and engulfed each other in a strong hug. 

“Jesus David, could’ve just said hello,” she laughed as she wrapped her arms tighter around his waist. He laughed and pulled away.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he asked. “You’re still wearin’ my coat,” he pointed out. Sarah smiled, her eyes going to the grey newsboy cap on his head. 

“And you’re still wearing your cap,” she pointed out. He opened his mouth, but Sarah quickly cut him off. “Relax Davy, just stating the obvious,” she said. David grimace, and Sarah quickly caught her mistake. “Sorry, David,” she said with a small nod. He silently thanked her.

Then, with a small glance around, she furrowed her eyebrows. Something was missing. A certain nine year old was missing. 

“Where’s Les?” Sarah asked. David shrugged. 

“Insisted on carrying his own trunk. He’s coming- right down there-” David pointed to Les, currently adjusting himself down the station. “Ninedy one years and the kid still has no muscle,” he joked lightly. 

“He can’t help it,” Sarah said quite solemnly. “He was nine when he drank… Unlike us, he’s still a kid.” 

“So are we,” David chimed in. 

“Seventeen- pretty much adults,” Sarah said. David rolled his eyes and laughed. 

“If you wanna say that,” he laughed. “I don’t agree- but you can say it.” 

They both laughed, watching as Les neared them, lugging his bag by swinging it forward, walking up to it, and then swinging it again. Les looked near out of breath, almost like he was about to pass out.

“Told ya I could do it!” Les said proudly as he dropped his trunk next to theirs with a loud huff. Sarah smiled and ruffled his hair, before wrapping an arm around him. 

“Good to see ya Les,” Sarah said. He smiled up at her and nodded. 

“Same to you,” he replied, before gazing around. Les tucked his hands in his pockets and swayed a bit, before looking at David. 

“You guys ready to head off?” he asked. Sarah nodded, they collected their things and then the three headed off down towards town. 

The walk through town was filled with light chatter, the three of them catching up on what they had missed out on for each other the past ten years. Not much had changed. Les learned how to whittle, Sarah made friends with some people who tried to teach her german, David still wasn’t over what had happened nearly twenty years ago now, Sarah nearly got robbed, Les learned he enjoyed to cook. At some point it all became mindless talking, neither of them focusing much. 

The warm humid air made the long walk across town rather unpleasant. It didn’t help that they were all carrying luggage, well, two of them were, anyways. Les had long since given up and handed his bag off to David. 

Just a bit longer and Pa would be waiting for them with the horse and cart just outside the forest. 

Les stopped talking once they turned off the main road, leaving just David and Sarah making small talk. It was mostly about Sarah’s working for a seamstress in Ohio and how much she learned from the lady. It broke her heart when she had to leave, but after a year and a half she couldn’t stretch it anymore. 

“Sounds dandy,” David said, before nodding just down the path to where their Father stood, with their horse just as old as Les, and a cart behind it typically used to transport junk around the farm. It was for sure in need of a repair, and Sarah could already tell that that was the first thing the boys were going to work on when they got back. 

Sarah smiled as they got closer, then she started to speed up just a little bit as she made eye contact with Pa, which just quickened until she dropped her bag some feet away and ran to him. 

He laughed a deep laugh as he picked her up and spun her around, before kissing the top of her head. 

“Good to see you darling,” he said as she stepped back. David approached, somehow carrying all three bags, and tossed them lazily in the back of the cart. 

“David,” he said with a small nod. David smiled and nodded back, before the two gave each other a quick hug. 

“Good to see you again Pa,” David said. 

“And you too,” he replied. “Les! My good boy- how are you?” he asked. Les simply rolled his eyes. 

“I’m fine, thanks,” he said, his hands not leaving his pockets for anything. David frowned lightly, as did Pa. 

“Somethin’ wrong son?” Pa asked. Les shrugged. 

“Just a wonderful reminder I’m the youngest,” he said. Then he hesitated. “But it’s good to see ya too.” 

Nothing more was said on the topic. David had whispered to Sarah, letting her know he had been like this for the past few years of traveling. She nodded, thanked him for the heads up, and then the three of them climbed into the back of the cart. 

“Ma’s got to have dinner started by now,” Pa said, breaking the silence as they neared the cottage. There was a happy chime of praise and then more silence. At one point, Sarah had absently taken David’s hat and put it on, despite the glare that she had earned. Les at one point chucked a pebble off of the cart. 

The energy was quick to pick up once again as they neared their home. A small, little cottage miles away from anyone else. Safely tucked off in a corner of a forest no one particularly cared about, they were well hidden from the the three nearest towns. 

Ma hadn't aged one bit- big shocker there. Sarah hugged her tightly, kissed her on the cheek and quickly brought her things back to her room. 

While it looked extremely small on the outside, it was big enough on the inside. Sarah's room was no more than a small bed tucked in a corner with a larger trunk, which she placed her traveling one on top of. Since she only frequented home so often, it was practically devoid of any signs of a young female living there. Besides the small shelf and mirror, which both adored small little trinkets stacked in the most craziest of ways. 

She had it better than the boys, she thought. Les and David shared a room maybe just a bit bigger than hers. Not that it mattered. They rarely stopped in the same time as Sarah during sporadic trips and one of them typically took Sarah's bed when that happened.  

She sighed softly as she took the clip from her hair, shaking it out in front of the chipped mirror. She ran a hand through her hair, before returning to the parlor. 

She glanced at Les, already in a game of chess with Pa and smiled. Les would be coming with her once they left again. That would be exciting. 

“Sarah, come help me please?” Ma said, rubbing her hands with a cloth. Sarah nodded and pulled her gaze away from her brother and stood with her in the kitchen. 

“Where'd the Newsboy go?” Sarah asked. Ma shrugged and handed her a knife and a container of carrots. 

“Probably on the roof if I hads to guess,” Ma said with a soft smile. “Can't get that boy away from heights no matter how hard I may try,” she said with a small sigh. 

“I blame  _ you know who _ , David said he had a uh, rooftop they went to quite a bit?” Sarah said. “Mostly afta the strike… according to Les.” 

“Yes yes, I'm sure of that,” Ma said. “Don’t wants to know what was goin on up there though.”

“Even after thirty years he's still doing it,” Sarah said, dismissing the comment Ma had made. “Jack Kelly probably hasn't thought of him in  _ years _ , right close to fifty now I bet,” she said. 

“He'll be forty eight come November,” David’s voice chimed in from behind Sarah, his tone bored and static. “if we could stop talking about the ghosts of my past now that would be ideal,” he said, looking to Sarah. 

Sarah blushed deeply and looked down, focusing on the carrots in front of her. 

“Sorry,” she muttered. David sighed, opened his mouth, only to quickly close it. The tension quickly grew, before Les’s cheers filled the room and it quickly melted. 

“I was just on a walk,” David said. 

“After the one you guys already had to do?” Ma asked. David shrugged. 

“Well yeah,” he said with a small nod. “It's nice out… wanted to check the raspberry bush.” 

“And?” Sarah asked. 

“there's enough there to go and pick,” he pointed out with a small shrug. 

“we should do that tomorrow then,” Ma said. “Eh, Les?” 

Les pipped up, before quickly ending his game and joining the conversation. He sat down at the table across from David. 

“I’d be interested maybe,” Les said with a small nod. 

“I might go to the spring,” Sarah said nonchalantly. Then, she quickly backtracked seeing Ma’s alarmed face and Les rolling his eyes. “Just to check on it! I don't know what else I would do with it… make sure it's still disgusting and stuff,” she shrugged lightly. 

Both David, Les and Ma continued to look skeptical. 

“That spring's no good news,” David said.

“We're already gonna live forever. I don't see what the harm of the spring is for us,” Sarah said. 

“Maybe the effects will fade after awhile,” Les said hopefully. “And we’ll all start agin’ again but you won't since you spend so much time near that damn water.” 

“ _ Language _ please,” Ma scolded, tapping him lightly on the head with the flipper. 

“We all know that ain't gonna happen,” David said dully. 

“It could!” Les said. “We don't know how the thing works!” 

“It's nearly been a hundred years,” David said. 

“Maybe it'll last for two hundred then,” Les said smartly. 

“Or maybe we just won't ever die and we’ll be stuck on this hell mouth until the world ends!” David snapped. “Watching  _ everything  _ just pass us by because that's just how it is now.” 

“I don't  _ want  _ it to be like that! I want to age! I wanna get  _ old  _ and married and I wanna hold onto that dream as dumb as it is!” Les snapped. “it ain't gonna happen! I know that, but I can dream. Just cause you got yours crushed don't mean you can crush mine!” 

David stood up abruptly and so did Les. That was when Ma stepped in, grabbing Les from under the armpits and carrying him away from David. 

“act your ages you two,” she scolded. 

“He's soundin like an eleven year old,” David said. 

“He's all moody like a seventeen kid,” Les added. 

“I meant a hundred n eight and hundred n two,” she said. “Mature a bit would ya? Y'all need to grow up.” 

“Trust me Ma, I would if I could,” Les said dully, sitting down again. 

Ma stared down David, before nodding back to his chair. 

“Sit boy. Tell me about your trips,” she said. “Heard the three of ya ended up on the Titanic- risky business if I do say so myself.”

 

Supper was later than expected, thanks to the unsteady swell of tension that went on during preparations. At one point Les was shoved out of the kitchen again. When supper did happen, no one talked. Pa tried, he really did, but after nothing but one word answers, he had given up and everyone paid the price. 

Sarah and David stayed behind to do the washing up, dismissing everyone off to do their own things. Ma and Pa chose to sit in the parlor, while Les went off to  _ who knows where _ . When he got like that, it was always best to just let him do what he wanted. 

While having nearly a hundred years to grow up, Les had matured a bit. Still, he sometimes had the token ten year old tantrums, and would probably always have them. As much as they all tried to grow, they would always been stuck in the same habits they had. 

“You think he might be right?” David asked as he washed down a plate. Sarah looked at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Whadda mean by that?” Sarah asked, drying the last of the mismatched cups before setting it atop of her strategically built tower, biting her lip as she did so. David waited until she wasn’t so focused on her task to reply. 

“Like… about the effects of the water wearin off?” David asked, handing her the first plate. Sarah stayed quiet for a long while, drying off the plates as she was given them. 

Truthfully, it was nothing she ever considered. At this point, Sarah was ready to move on and die. She used to fear it, but now if the Grim Reaper were to show up at her door, she would cry for joy and willingly embrace him. However, she knew that would never happen, and decided that this was okay. She had her family, and while it was getting harder and harder to stay in hiding, she wouldn’t have her life any other way. It was bittersweet, but she was  _ so  _ happy.

“It would be nice,” she said shortly. “But I highly doubt it… It’s been, what- ninety six years?”

“Ninedy one,” David corrected. 

“Right… and I mean, I’m no expert, but water filters outta your system eventually right?” she said. David just nodded. 

“But we keep the way we are… so I don’t think so. The chances are slim to none in my opinion,” she said. 

“Unless there’s some sort of cure to it,” David pointed out. Sarah shrugged. 

“Even if there was, who's gonna find it? It’s not like there’s anyone else like us out here… So I mean, it’s not like anyones gonna do it unless we do. It’s not a worldly thing- just the Jacobs and the horse,” she said. 

“And the cat,” David pointed out. Sarah laughed lightly. 

“Of course- can’t forget Miles,” she said. “Haven’t seen him yet today… he still around?” she asked. 

“Well, of course he is,” David laughed. “He drank!” 

“I know that,” she said, nudging his side. “I meant, he still around the house?” 

“Hey Ma!” David called over his shoulder. “Miles still around?” 

“Last I saw him he was chasing ducks out by the pond… he’ll be around tonight I’m sure!” she called back. David smiled and looked back to Sarah. 

“There’s your answer then,” he said. Sarah rolled her eyes. 

“I wasn’t  _ that  _ curious,” she pointed out. He shrugged. 

“But ya know now,” he said. 

“Yes, yes, I know now,” she replied.  


	3. The Spring

Sarah sighed softly as Pa and David rambled on, debating about the best way to fix the leak in the roof instead of eating their breakfast. She had long since tuned out of the conversation, instead giving Ma the occasional glance that was just begging her to let her be dismissed from the table. 

That didn't happen until both David and Pa were the only ones still eating. Usually it was a general rule that until everyone finished, no one left the table. However, Ma  _ clearly  _ realized that that wasn’t happening any time soon, so, reluctantly, she waved Sarah and Les off, neither of them taking any time getting away from the table. 

Sarah muttered something about going out, though no one reacted to it. It wasn’t  _ new  _ knowledge that she planned on heading towards the spring for the day, so she figured it was fine. What she would do down there, she had no idea. She left with a book tucked under her arm and a small bag of half eaten gummy bears she had found in her trunk while unpacking, she figured those would probably keep her occupied for a few hours. 

She hummed softly as she walked, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she did so. It had been a while, and she wasn’t entirely sure how to get where she wanted to go, but she know it wouldn’t take long for her to recognize the woods. Eventually she would find her way. 

Glancing around, she made sure she was for sure alone as she entered the forest. There was a path, which she found a bit strange. Last time she had been home, nothing like this had existed. Theories started going, but she quickly dismissed almost all of them as she realized she had to turn off the path completely to get to the clearing. 

It took her a bit longer to get through there, but once she had, she happily took her place under the large oak tree by the water and cracked open the book. A fresh one, which Pa had probably picked up last time he had gone to the market. It was a lot thicker than others she had read, and she hadn’t done anything more than admire the cover of it, but she was hoping it would work out. 

She absently peeled one of the gummy bears away from the others and put it in her mouth. They were old- like she expected, and were near impossible to chew. She was pretty sure she had picked them up when she was in England, quite possibly a year ago. Despite the weird consistency and the near instant regret, she still ate them. 

Somewhere in the woods, there was a crack. She looked up as several more footsteps rang out and slowly stood up, setting both her book and gummies down beside where she was sitting. 

Slowly, she wandered towards the source. Then, just as she approached the edge of the clearing, it suddenly stopped. She stood still, holding her breath to make sure the noise was truly gone, before turning on her heels and returning to her spot. 

Her gaze fell on the spring, only for a moment, as a duck swam through it. It’s little head circled the water briefly, before it ducked it’s head down under the surface and ate something from the water.

“Oh you clueless duck,” she muttered as she opened her book once more. “How unaware of the mistake you just made you are,” she said, frowning to herself. That got her wondering; how many creatures  _ were _ there that drank?

How many birds or rodents had stopped by the spring to drink, only to find themselves living forever? Did they  _ realize  _ they were living forever? Were ducks aware of their normal lifespan? Would  _ that  _ specific duck think  _ “hey! I’m going to die soon, better get on with spreading my lineage” _ ? And, once the duck surpassed it’s usual age span, would it be asking itself why it wasn’t dying? Or changing? Would it notice? Or would it just carry on, clueless to the fact that the Grim Reaper had removed it entirely from it’s list?

Sarah hoped that wasn’t the case. She hoped maybe that duck would just live on forever blissfully unaware of the curse it suddenly set upon itself. Maybe it wouldn’t notice how the world changed around it. It would just, continue living. 

The duck wouldn’t need to constantly move and relocate from it’s home.  _ Did ducks have homes? _ The point was, it could just go wherever it wanted, and it could stay as long as it wanted. No one would suspect that the duck wasn’t aging because well… it was a duck. Ducks all looked the same, so it could be witnessed by the same person every day for thirty eight years and nothing would seem suspicious. 

Sarah kind of wished she was a duck. At least, the newly immortal duck. 

They seemed to have it so much better. 

“What’s so interesting about the water?” a voice suddenly asked. Sarah jumped, dropping the book on her lap as she tore her gaze from the duck, who was still happily swimming. 

A girl was standing in front of her, some few feet away. Her curly brown hair was pulled to one shoulder, and her dress and lace gloves looked as if she had just came from afternoon tea with the finest of ladies. She was absently smoothing out the rich silk purple skirt that ended just above her ankles, her hand brushing off a little leaf, her eyes darting to it quickly to make sure it hadn’t left a mark. 

She looked entirely out of place to be in the middle of a wood, in a clearing where there were no direct paths to. 

So why on  _ earth  _ was she here? 

“You were staring at it,” she pointed out, stepping closer. 

“I’ve never seen you here before,” she said. Sarah cleared her throat, stood up and brushed off her dress. 

“You’ve been here before?” Sarah asked. She laughed, a mix of bitterness and humor. 

“Of course I have, this is just outside  _ my  _ property,” she said. “Nearly close enough to be considered my property. I come here nearly every week and I do  _ not _ recognize you at all.” 

Sarah sighed, her heart racing. 

“Did you ever drink from the water?” Sarah asked, the first question to come to her mind. She guessed really that was the only thing that mattered. 

“No. You don’t drink random pond water,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Sarah glanced between the water and the girl and let out another loud breath. 

“Whad'ya go by? Your name?” Sarah asked with small nod towards her. The girl hesitated. 

“Why should I trust you?” she asked, turning to face Sarah. For a brief second, Sarah was grateful that she wasn’t supposed to talk to people around here. If everyone was as stubborn as this girl, she was fine being isolated with her family while at home. 

“Givin’ me a name ain’t gonna hurt ya,” Sarah pointed out. The girl sighed, before outstretching her hand. 

“Katherine,” she said. Sarah paused, before shaking it. 

“Sarah,” she replied, retracting her hand. 

Katherine stared at her with furrowed eyebrows, her lips pressed in a thin line. 

“How old are you?” she asked. 

Sarah felt her heart skip a beat, before letting any fear quickly subside. It was stupid. Panicking about an age. 

“Seventeen?” she replied, before clearing her throat. Katherine laughed shortly. 

“You sure about that?” Katherine asked, crossing her arms over her chest once again. 

“Yes,” Sarah said. “Are you sure about being…” she looked Katherine up and down. “Fourteen?” she guessed. 

“Fifteen,” she corrected. Sarah shrugged. 

“Close enough,” she decided. Katherine rolled her eyes. 

There was silence for a moment, as they both turned to look back at the spring, where the duck was still dunking it’s head underneath and Sarah frowned. The thing had filled its own grave. 

“What?” Katherine asked. 

Sarah blinked and turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. 

“Why are you frowning?” Katherine asked. Sarah relaxed her face, before looking back to the duck. 

“Just pityin’ the duck,” Sarah said simply. Katherine scrunched up her face. 

“Why?” she asked. 

“Well, it’s gonna live forever now,” Sarah said bluntly with a small shrug, without even realizing it. 

Then the words processed, and she turned to face Katherine, who was looking at Sarah like she was crazy. 

Her lips parted, as she looked at the duck and then back to Sarah. 

“I said I was  _ fifteen _ not five,” she said. Sarah laughed lightly.

“Well I’m being honest,” Sarah said simply. “It’s why I asked ya if you drank, cause if ya did, you wouldn’t be agin anymore.” 

Katherine laughed again. Clearly, she was thinking of it all as one big joke and Sarah couldn’t blame her. She was treating it like a joke too.

“You know, I almost want to drink it just to prove you wrong,” Katherine said. 

“No!  _ No _ you don’t needta do that,” Sarah said quickly. “I did it- a long  _ long  _ time ago and here I am, livin’ in the twenties! Trust me, it’s not something you should do justa prove a point.” 

Katherine raised an eyebrow. 

“So you’re not seventeen?” Katherine asked, cocking her head to the side. 

Sarah quickly shook her head. 

“I’m uh, I’m a hundred n’ eight,” Sarah admitted. “But I drank when I was seventeen, so I’m just… seventeen.” 

There was a beat of hesitation. 

“I don’t believe you,” Katherine said simply. Sarah sighed. Of course she didn’t. Why would she? 

Realistically, she should have just said it was a joke. Said the water was just really toxic and bad to drink, and that the duck would probably be dead pretty soon. Then, she could collect her things and never see Katherine again. It’s something David would tell her to do. 

However, Sarah wasn’t David. Sarah was  _ yearning  _ to just prove this stupid secret, now that she knew. 

“I can prove it,” she said. Katherine hesitated, before looking at her. 

“How?” she asked. Sarah glanced around before walking over to the large oak tree. She felt the bottom branches out, and then looked up at the tree. Then she looked back at Katherine, pulled her dress up the best she could, and pulled herself up to the lowest branch. 

“You’re going to climb a tree,” Katherine said bluntly. 

“That’s what it looks like, right?” Sarah asked, grinning down at her before she found a new place to put her foot. 

“How’s that gonna prove anything?” Katherine asked. Sarah took a deep breath and hoisted herself up on a branch about seven feet up off the ground, before looking down at Katherine. 

“Well, I’m gonna climb it… maybe… well, as high as I can on this thing… maybe, I’d say that’s  _ easily  _ thirty- forty feet up? And… I’ll either jump like a pancake to the ground or I’ll… dive into the extremely shallow water. Either way, however I land should easily kill or shatter every bone in my body,” Sarah rambled, continuing to climb up the tree and slowly raised her voice as she got higher up. 

“You’ll get yourself killed!” Katherine exclaimed, running up to the base of the tree. Sarah could tell the girl probably had never climbed a tree before, judging by how she tried to climb up after her, but quickly gave up after failing to bring herself up.

“Oh my goodness _ please  _ do  _ not _ do this! Don’t be an idiot! Get down!” Katherine rambled. Sarah watched as she fumbled up the lowest branches, careful not to snag her pretty silk skirt. Sarah laughed lightly, shaking her head as she sat down some thirty feet up. 

“Like I said darlin! I don’t die easily,” Sarah called down. 

“You are an idiot!” she called back. “If I knew you better I would not  _ hesitate  _ to slap some sense into you!” 

“What? Don’t like ta slap another girl?” Sarah asked. Katherine made a loud, frustrated noise and stood back. 

“You won’t actually jump,” Katherine said. 

“Oh?” 

Sarah swung her legs playfully on the branch, before she stood up again, bouncing on the branch lightly. 

“I needta prove it to you somehow!” Sarah said. Katherine shook her head and turned away. 

“Fine! Jump and get yourself killed! I ain’t watching,” Katherine yelled. Sarah laughed. She knew she shouldn’t have. Katherine was clearly freaked out but Sarah was just… oddly happy that she was about to prove her stupid predicament to someone. That and she hadn’t jumped from a tree in a long while.

And so, Sarah took a deep breath, adjusted herself on the branch and jumped down. 

There was a moment of free fall, before she fell to the ground with a harsh  _ thomp _ . All the air left her body in one sweeping exhale, and she gasped for air. Somewhere around her, Katherine shrieked and was at her side, nervously rambling to herself as she panicked, lifting up and feeling Sarah’s arm frantically. 

It took Sarah a few seconds to come around. The shock died down, so did the ringing in her ears and her pain as she seemingly went back to normal. 

Katherine was checking for a pulse when Sarah sat up. She jumped back, her mouth agape and her entire body shaking. Sarah smiled, smoothed out her hair and then stood up. 

“You’re perfectly fine!” Katherine exclaimed, grabbing one of her arms and feeling it once again, as if to check for broken bones.

“Well yeah said I would,” Sarah replied with a small laugh. “You really didn’t believe me?” she continued. 

“Of course I didn’t! Why  _ would  _ I! You… you don’t even have a single scratch on you!” Katherine said as she examined Sarah’s other arm. She was still shaking, perhaps even more violently than she had before. Sarah smiled softly and took both her hands, which Katherine quickly shook away and set on either side of her. 

“Well, I’m fine, so it’s just proof you don’t drink from the spring,” Sarah said all too casually. Katherine’s jaw dropped and she slapped Sarah’s arm roughly. 

“I wasn’t gonna drink it anyways!” she said. “It’s…  _ so  _ disgusting looking and… you… just did this to make me look like a fool! I don’t… you’re perfectly fine and that doesn’t make any sense and you have gained  _ nothing _ by showing me this! Instead you just scared the living ‘ell out of me and I for one do  _ not  _ care for that at all,” she said. 

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but Katherine shook her head. 

“It was a  _ pleasure  _ to meet you Sarah, and thank you for scaring me for the next ten years. Have a  _ wonderful _ life,” she snapped, before whipping around and racing out of the clearing. 

It wasn’t until then, that Sarah realized how stupid what she just did was. Her doing semi impulsive things weren’t anything new, but jumping out of a tree to prove a point that she didn’t even need to explain in the first place, that was new. 

Sarah stood, watching the space that Katherine had just left through, her heart rate suddenly picking up. She was an idiot. She was  _ such  _ an idiot! She kept this damn secret for ninety one  _ years  _ so easily-  _ she kept the secret longer than Davey for Christ sakes! _ -and she suddenly just told a random girl about it for no reason other than the fact that she wanted to prove the fact that she wouldn’t die.

Which she easily could have done with no one else around. 

Sarah huffed and turned around, before returning to her book and gummy bears. She couldn’t go after Katherine. She had no idea where she lived and Sarah wasn’t supposed to go into the town alone. No one was in their family anyways. 

All she could really do was hope that Katherine didn’t go telling everyone about  _ the girl who just jumped out of a tree to prove she was some sort of super human _ . 

Really, as long as word didn’t get out, and Sarah didn’t tell anyone what happened, the world should just be golden. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit on the shorter end, I extended it by four hundred words during the editing, so at least it's longer than it was originally. Hope you enjoyed!


	4. The Parlor

Sarah sat silently with an old blanket on her lap, curled up in the corner of the sofa, watching blankly as David and Les played chess. She hadn’t said a word since she returned from the spring that afternoon. Since then, they had eaten dinner and Sarah cleaned up. 

No one had said anything to her about her lack of talking, which she was grateful for. She was stressed about Katherine. Now that time had passed, she really regretted even just talking to her. She should have just gotten up and left the minute she heard footsteps. 

“Wanna play me, Sar?” Les asked. She piped up, and looked to him with a small smile. She didn’t really want to play chess. Not right now. 

Despite that, she nodded and moved over. David moved with her to give her room to play. He took an edge of the blanket, and put it over his lap as well. Usually Sarah would have told him off, but she let it slide, not having

“Remind me who goes first,” Sarah said as Les put all the pieces back on the board in the correct order. 

“White,” Les said as he set down the last one. “Which means…” he turned the board around, so the white pieces were in front of Sarah. “You go first.” 

Sarah grinned and nodded, before she moved a pawn. 

Les liked chess. A lot. He always had, as long as Sarah could remember. It went without saying that he was good at it. He was really good at it, so Sarah knew from the moment she agreed that she wouldn’t be winning. 

She could try, but she wouldn’t be winning. 

“You alright?” David asked, nudging her lightly. Sarah looked at him, before she moved the next piece on the board. 

“Yeah, yes, of course I’m fine,” she replied as she watched Les play. He glanced up at the two curiously once they started talking. 

“Somethin’ happen at the spring?” David asked. 

Quickly, all too quickly, Sarah shook her head. 

“No, no, I just read while I was there,” she explained. It was alone true. 

“You’ve been off since you’ve been back,” Les chimed in, before snapping to get Sarah to move her next piece. 

“I just… dunno, was thinking,” Sarah said with a small shrug. 

“About?” both boys asked, pretty much in sync. Sarah sighed heavily. 

“There was a duck,” she said shortly. David raised an eyebrow and Les laughed. 

“He uh, drank… and I was just thinkin’,” Sarah continued. 

“Fair enough, I guess,” David said. Thankfully, that was when they stopped talking about all of it. Sarah didn’t have the energy to stretch the truth anymore. Even though she really hadn’t started at this point. 

Les won, to no surprise, and Sarah stepped back and let David play him again. 

“D’ya know where Ma is?” Sarah asked. 

“The two went out to town,” David said. “Pretty sure that’s what she said, anyways.” 

Sarah hummed in response, before she brought the blanket up around her chin. It was too warm to have the blanket really, but Sarah thought of it as her safety blanket. At least for now. 

“D’ya know what for?” Les asked. Sarah looked over to David for a response. 

“Didn’t tell me. Just asked for a pape,” David said simply, shrugging as he moved his queen. 

“If you’re looking for-”

“We’re close enough to New York, somethin’ could be in there,” David said, cutting Sarah off before she could even get her point across. She sighed softly and laid down on the couch, curling up so she didn’t disturb David sitting beside her. 

“It ain’t good to dwell on him,” Les said. “He was just a friend… I mean, I miss him too but it’s not like he was family… or dead,” he said carelessly. David shook his head lightly. 

“You’re ten Les, you don’t get it,” David said. 

Sarah sighed heavily and got up, before wordlessly going into her room. She didn’t want to be around just in case the two got into an argument over a certain Newsboy that neither of them had heard from in thirty years. Sarah never even met or seen Jack Kelly, but she knew something went down between him and David back then. 

She just didn’t know what went on when the two were in New York, selling papers and being  _ idiots _ , getting themselves in several stories about that damn strike. Who knew what else.

 

The next morning, Sarah had next to forgotten about the previous day. She knew she couldn’t change what happened, so she just decided that her best option was to forget about a pretty brunette, and move on with her life. It was the best thing she could do at this point. 

She dragged herself out of bed and quickly got ready, before she left her room and made her way to the parlor. 

Sitting alone, tucked under the window was David reading the paper. He was humming softly to himself and showed no sign of acknowledging Sarah. She smiled softly as she watched him bite his nails, reading through the page. 

Silently, Sarah made her way to the kitchen and began boiling water for tea. At one point, David had moved to sit in the kitchen, and the two silently coexisted as they went about their morning routines. 

“You got the time?” Sarah eventually asked. David hesitated, before he pulled out a pocket watch. 

“Just past seven,” he said. Sarah blinked and then laughed lightly. 

“Didn’t think it was that early…” she muttered as she dug around the cupboards. “What’re you even doin’ up this early?” she asked. Judging by the change of clothes and tired eyes, he must have been asleep at some point, but not for long. 

“Couldn’t sleep, so I gave up,” David said, before he looked back to the paper. 

Again, silence fell between the two as Sarah made her tea and David read. 

Once Sarah had poured the brewed tea into her little tea cup, she walked behind David and started reading over his shoulder. 

She waited patiently for David to flip the page. She wasn’t particularly interested in any of the stories she had skimmed through. She never understood why David even cared about any of that stuff to begin with. Sometimes she felt so isolated from world events, she wondered why any of them even bothered with trying to keep up. David liked reading them though, so Sarah guessed he had a reason to. 

David flipped the page and seemily froze on an article about a painter in New York. He sighed quietly, his thumb kind of moving up the paper so it sat next to the photo of the painter. Sarah hesitated, before she read the caption underneath. 

“That’s him?” she asked hesitantly, before sipping her tea. David glanced back at her and nodded. 

“Yeah,” he said shortly. 

“What’s he in the pape for?” Sarah asked, leaning forward just a bit to skim the first paragraph. David took his time reading the first bit of the article, despite having could have just read the headline. 

“He’s uh, he donated a bunch of money,” he said, dismissing her a bit.

“It’s a wonder that he has the money to do that now,” he said quietly, probably more to himself if anything. Sarah smiled softly and gave his shoulder a small squeeze. 

“Didn't cha say he did political cartoons for  _ The World _ ?” Sarah asked. 

“Long time ago… he hasn’t been doing em since, think the last one I saw was when we were in New York after the whole Titanic incident- so, ten years maybe?,” David said, forcing a small laugh at the end. “But uh, yeah he did those for a while… sold papes, worked for Medda.” 

“Who?” she asked. David just shrugged. 

“She was a friend of his… helped out with the strike n’ stuff,” David said. 

This was probably the most information Sarah had even gotten out of David about the whole situation. 

“Do ya miss him?” Sarah asked hesitantly. David shut the paper, folded it neatly and then set it down in front of him on the table. Sarah took a step back, before sitting across from him. 

David looked down at his hands, before he looked up to Sarah. 

“Little bit,” he said. Then, there was a beat of hesitation. “A lot, actually.” 

“What happened there?” she asked, knowing she was crossing a rocky bridge that didn’t actually connect to anything on the other side. He tensed up, before he fiddled with the edge of the paper. 

“Ain’t any of your business,” David said, glancing up at Sarah for a split second, but ultimately deciding that he’d much rather look at the words on the paper than at her. Sarah sighed softly and sipped her tea, before setting it down on the table. 

She reached out and hesitantly took David’s hand, before giving it a small squeeze. 

“Bottlin’ it up ain’t gonna help you Davey,” she said softly. David tugged his hand away and looked up to Sarah with a small shake of the head. 

“You told me not to talk about it,” David said. Sarah sighed softly. 

“That was years ago,” Sarah pointed out. He shook his head. 

“I don’t care. I don’t wanna talk about it,” David said. 

“You’ve been going on about this boy for  _ years  _ now and not even Les-  _ who was with you when this happened _ \- knows what’s goin’ on in your head right now,” Sarah said, a bit helplessly. “I just wanna be able to help you with whatever you need. “

“Ever think I don’t want help gettin over it?” David asked, standing up from the table. 

“That’s not what I meant,” Sarah said, standing up as well. Despite the slight raise in both their voices, they both knew better than to raise their voices loud enough to wake Les up. 

“What did ya mean then?” David asked. 

“Just… was it…  _ more _ than a friendship?” Sarah asked. David laughed bitterly and shook his head, before pushing back from the table and around Sarah. 

“I don’t want to have this conversation now,” David said. Sarah shook her head lightly and followed him back into the parlor. 

“Davey, I know you… and I just want to know-” 

“Just because I happen to like men, and you aren’t okay with it, don’t mean I go after every man I meet,” David said quietly. Sarah sighed quietly. “Nd’ I don’t like bein’ called Davey,” he added quietly. Sarah knew that, and just dismissed the comment.

“I never said I had a problem with it,” she said. 

“You did,” he said shortly. 

“Well yes, but that was  _ years  _ ago… it ain’t right- I know that, but I’m okay with  _ you. _ Not like we can change it anyways,” Sarah said. “And that’s not what I’m talking about. I just wanna know if… you know…” 

“No,” he said as he walked towards the front door. 

“Where are you going now?” Sarah asked. 

“I wanna go sit outside,” David said simply. “ _ Alone _ , please Sarah. I don’t want to fight with you.” 

Sarah sighed and nodded, before she sat down on the sofa. It was unfair. Sarah told him so much about the things that troubled her. From missing people she met along the way to just crying over stupid little things. She was fine with David keeping some things to himself but… this was such a huge thing. 

Maybe she was being selfish. She probably was. At the end of the day though, he was her  _ brother _ . She thought maybe he could talk to her, especially now that it had been so long. 

She glanced back as she watched David swing open the front door, only to stare blankly at whatever was on the other side. Sarah giggled just a bit. She had never seen him so frozen. 

That faded quickly as she realized why that had happened. 

“Does… uh, Sarah live here?” came a familiar voice. A voice that realistically shouldn’t be on the other side of her door right now. 

“Yes,” David said, before the two made eye contact. Then, David looked back to the door and forced a small smile. “Just a second.” 

He slammed the door in Katherine’s face, before taking four big strides to Sarah, who was now standing in the middle of the parlor. 

“Who the  _ hell  _ is that?” David asked, his voice low but stern. Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but instead just laughed nervously and rocked back and forth on her heels. 

“It’s a… long story,” Sarah said with a small laugh. David crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows as if to say he had time for the story. Sarah bit her lip and looked to the door. 

“We met at the spring-”

“-  _ you met someone at the spring and you didn’t tell me?!- _ ” 

“- Can I  _ speak _ ?” Sarah said harshly. David put his hands up in the air in defeat. Then, hesitantly, she continued. 

“We met at the spring… I didn’t tell her where I lived. I barely told her anything but my name,” Sarah said calmly. “I’m going to go talk to her.” 

“You’re screwed if she finds out,” David said, following her back to the front door. 

Sarah stayed quiet as she glared at David. Then, she let her face soften as she opened the door. On the other side of the door, Katherine stood, her eyebrows knitted together as she wrung out her hands nervously. 

“Hi,” Katherine said with a soft smile, dropping her hands behind her back as Sarah opened the door. Sarah smiled, before she glanced back at David who was hovering just behind her. Katherine followed her gaze, before waving shortly at David. 

“Hello,” Sarah replied, before stepping aside to let Katherine come in. 

“So I was thinking about the other day-” Katherine started. Sarah shook her head, putting her hand on Katherine’s shoulder. 

“Oh trust me it’s fine,” Sarah said, leaving the door wide open as she lightly pushed Katherine back outside. 

“Well no,” Katherine said with a small laugh. “I ran off because I panicked… and I really didn’t mean it when I said you scarred me, I mean, yeah it was really crazy but now that it’s kind of processed it’s really interesting and I have  _ thousands _ of questions,” Katherine rambled on. 

“What did she tell you?” David asked. Katherine stepped back inside with a wide smile. 

“Well, she was saying that the spring made her im-”

“Katherine you  _ don’t _ need to explain,” Sarah laughed nervously. 

“- And of course I didn’t believe her but she  _ proved  _ it and… she didn’t have a scratch on her!” Katherine exclaimed. 

“You told her about the water?” David snapped. Sarah turned to David and smiled softly. 

“She wanted to drink from it,” Sarah lied. 

“Well, not really, but she was saying how this duck that was drinking from it would go on to be immortal. I would never drink from something like that,” Katherine said with an innocent grin. The color drained from David’s face as he looked to Sarah, whose face was doing the exact same thing. 

“You told a complete stranger about the water,” David said flatly. 

“Oh come on! Like you haven’t told anyone,” Sarah whined. 

“Only because I had to!” David snapped. 

Sarah turned back to Katherine as she cleared her throat. 

“Should I not have come by?” Katherine asked quietly. Sarah hesitated, before sighing and shaking her head lightly. 

“No, it’s fine… I just… how’d you find this place?” Sarah asked. 

Katherine laughed nervously as she gazed around. 

“Well, I was coming back to the clearing and then I noticed you leaving… and curiosity got the best of me so I followed you! But… once I saw the house I turned around and left,” Katherine said. 

“She followed you and you never noticed?” David said. Sarah shook her head. 

“You’re kidding me,” he said with a small shake of the head. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t-” 

“It’s fine Katherine,” Sarah quickly interrupted. She nodded. Sarah gestured for her to sit down, and she quickly did, settling in the corner of the one seat, her hands folded neatly on her lap. She tucked her hair behind her ear and then she was gazing around the parlor. 

“Sarah, we have only been home  _ two days _ ,” David began. Sarah shook her head 

“I doubt Katherine’s gonna go out and rat on us!” Sarah said. 

“No I really wouldn't,” Katherine pipped in from her seat. Sarah smiled softly at her, before looking back to David. 

“You knew her for less than an hour before telling her- you don’t  _ know  _ what kind of person she is!” David said, in a lame attempt to hush himself so that Katherine wouldn’t hear. Sarah scoffed and rolled her eyes. 

“You told Jack!” Sarah exclaimed. 

“That was  _ different _ ,” David snapped. “I knew him for months before I told him and I only did it because I had to.” 

“You still did it though, so you can’t say a single word to me,” Sarah said. David shook his head and put his hands up in the air. 

“Fine! Whatever- have fun with your new friend,” David said. He grabbed his newspaper from the side table, and then stormed out of the house, slamming the door loudly behind him. 

Both Sarah and Katherine jumped. Katherine stood, smoothing out her dress as she walked over to Sarah. She opened her mouth to speak, a stray noise coming out of her mouth before they were both cut off by the creaking sound of the roof, despite there only being one story. 

“He’s uh, on the roof,” Sarah explained shortly. 

“Your family likes to climb things, don’t they?” Katherine asked, forcing a small laugh as she looked towards the front door. Sarah blushed and shrugged. 

“Kinda I guess,” Sarah said shortly. 

There was another brief moment where neither of them spoke, instead just avoiding eye contact entirely. Katherine swung on her heels slightly, before looking back to Sarah. 

“I’m sorry about…” 

“Sarah what just happened?” Les said. Sarah sighed quietly as she turned to face him. He was still in his night clothes, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he stretched. Then, he blinked and opened his eyes. Both girls smiled at him, and then Katherine awkwardly waved. 

“That’s a girl!” Les exclaimed. Again, they both laughed. 

“You’ve got a  _ girl  _ in our house! And she ain’t related!” he exclaimed. 

“Uh yes… Les, this is Katherine… she’s a friend of mine,” Sarah said hesitantly.  _ Could she really call them friends? _

“She know about us not agin?” Les asked bluntly. Sarah shook her head and rolled her eyes playfully. He was lucky she already knew. 

“Yes she knows… but ma and pa  _ can’t  _ know about her knowin’ alright?” Sarah said. 

“Don’t talk to me like I’m ten! I know the deal,” Les said with a small shrug, before walking closer to the two. 

Sarah opened her mouth to object and correct him, but instead, he help out his hand for Katherine, and then kissed the back of hers, before letting go. 

“I’m Les, it’s a pleasure to meetcha,” he said with a small nod. Katherine grinned. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said. Katherine turned her attention back to Sarah, who was watching their parent’s bedroom door. It was wide open and the room was empty. They had probably gone into one of the towns this morning. She hadn’t heard anything from them, but she knew David might have. 

“Sarah… can I ask you some questions?” Katherine asked. Sarah hesitated before she nodded. She looked back to Katherine with a small smile before the three of them sat down in the parlor, each evenly spread out on the two couches. 

“Long as you promise not to repeat them to anyone,” Sarah said. Katherine nodded quickly. 

“Of course! I won’t even write any of it down,” Katherine said. Sarah nodded subtly and then waited for her to begin asking questions. 

“How long have you been like this?” she asked. 

“Ninety one years,” Sarah said with a small nod. 

“So you’re…” 

“A hundred and eight, we answered this already,” she said with a small laugh. 

“Hey! I’m a hundred n’ two!” Les chimed in. Katherine grinned before looking back to Sarah. 

“So… your body just, stopped right in it’s tracks?” Katherine asked. Sarah nodded. 

“Not even our hair grows much anymore,” she said. “Boys don’t need to shave at all… not that Les ever had ta” Sarah teased playfully. 

“Do you still need to eat then?” 

“Nah, nothin’ll happen if we don’t… but we still get hungry, so we do,” Sarah said. 

“I make a great plate of flapjacks,” Les chimed in. “It’s still early! I’d love to make ya some if you wanted em.”

“Oh no thank you,” Katherine politely. “I uh, I’ve never had anything like that really.” 

“You’ve never had flapjacks?” Les said with a small, dramatic gasp. 

“Hot cakes?” Sarah asked. 

Then, hesitantly Katherine said “like uh, they’re small little circle things made a batter?” 

“Yes!” 

“Oh, those are pancakes,” she said with a small laugh. 

“Potato patato,” Les said with a small shrug. Katherine laughed lightly and Sarah shook her head. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She's a bit unedited, but just the last 700 works or so I think, so it's not that bad. Not like this is/is gonna be a big story or anything. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comment if you want, leave kudos, my tumblr is bittersweet-skylines if you wanna follow it. I'm not going to directly link it cause I don't feel like using html right now. See you around!


	5. The Theater

Time had quickly gotten away from all three of them. While the topic left from the Jacob’s situation, and had since cycled through several different topics, including Katherine’s love of writing, Les’s experience with women and an interesting debate over fruits. At one point, David returned from outside. He said nothing as he walked past the three, and silently into his bedroom. 

Les didn’t last much longer, having decided to follow David back into their shared room.  At this, Sarah decided to bring Katherine back out around to the back of the house. Just in case Ma and Pa got back from wherever they had gone off to (they came home last night, Sarah knew that since David had his paper, so she wasn’t concerned.) She knew they would have to know eventually, but not yet. 

She liked the idea of Katherine just being her secret. A secret that both her brothers happen to know about. Knowing David, soon her parents would as well. 

So, maybe Katherine wasn’t her secret. Maybe Katherine was just a friend Sarah had. People themselves weren’t generally secrets. Relationships could be, maybe even children, but not grown people. 

“So you don’t do much?” Katherine asked as the two walked past the small barn, currently absent of any animals. 

“Depends what much means,” Sarah said simply. “I travel a lot… but I haven’t much money at all, so I mostly do freelance work and keep a low profile. I’ve seen the wonders of the world… Mostly alone- Les goes with David all the time. He’s coming ‘round with me this time though.” She smiled softly, mostly to herself. “It’s been harder to move between countries with passports and such… but they’re easy to fake… It’s a wonder really, but you miss out on a lot,” she said, eventually going from talking to Katherine, to talking to herself. 

“Like what?” Katherine asked as they looped around, Sarah deciding to lead her down a back path of the wood. 

“Well, I gots to keep enough money to travel, boat or train… though I haven’t gotten on a boat since nineteen twelve,” Sarah began. 

“Why?” Katherine cut her off. Sarah hesitated before she shrugged. 

“Third class passenger of the ill fated Titanic,” Sarah said with a small nod. Katherine looked at her with her jaw agape. Sarah smiled softly before elaborating on the story.

“Les, David and I were together… Idiots didn’t have enough boats for everyone… Course you probably know that… uh, we were kept down below while first and second class were being boarded… And this man handed me his daughter, hoping I could get her on a boat… I did, the father didn’t make it… David and Les didn’t get on a boat before it went under… ‘cording to Les the two were on the opposite side of the railing, going down with the ship as it sunk, but Davey just said the two jumped off and swam away before it snapped in two. They were stranded in the water for…  _ hours _ . I honestly thought they’d be stuck there. Another boat got them though, eventually. They were kind of creeped out by how good of a condition they were in… Even though we  _ can’t _ die, it was still horrifying,” Sarah explained, getting lost in her own world as she recited the story. 

“So you haven’t been to Europe or anywhere since?” Katherine asked. Sarah nodded. 

“You know, Aeroplanes exist. Maybe someday they’ll be used for public use,” Katherine said. Sarah chuckled lightly. 

“I doubt that, but I guess anything is possible,” Sarah said with a small laugh. Katherine shrugged. 

“I can’t see why not,” Katherine said. “Railroads are improving, and automobiles are…  _ existing  _ now, kinda useless on dirt roads of course but,” she said with a small laugh. 

“I’ve never been in one,” Sarah admitted. Katherine smiled at her, then looked down and kicked a small stone. 

“I have… you really aren’t missing out on much,” Katherine said. “Well, you might be. My father has one, though it’s not much use in such a small town. We can walk anywhere. We uh, lived in New York, then he retired and we moved out here. I was four, we went off with his mistress, and well, this is all too much information,” she suddenly cut herself off with a small shake of the head. 

“Don’t mind,” Sarah said. “It’s… interesting. I don’t geta ever hear about people’s families.” 

“No?” 

“No. If I ask about their family, usually they’ll ask about mine and well, can’t really do that,” Sarah said with a small laugh. 

“You could,” Katherine pointed out. 

“Do I want to though?” Sarah asked. 

“I dunno, do you?” Katherine asked. 

“Nah, they’re all lame,” Sarah joked. They both laughed. 

So, with a deep breath, Katherine backed up a bit and started talking about her family. All the while, Sarah just smiled as she watched her talk. 

“Well, my father owned a newspaper company- inherited it from his father, you know,  _ family business  _ and such… So he was sitting pretty- still is. He never wanted kids, but he married anyways, to my mother. Nothing much happened, at least, I don’t think so, honestly I don’t know much about my mother, now that I think about it. But uh,” she laughed lightly. “You just heard this- my father got involved with another woman, liked her better, so left my mother with nothing, took me and Diana and we moved here… he still owns the newspaper, but gave a share of it to someone else to keep it running- I honestly have no clue, he keeps me out of the business stuff. Just buys me pretty dresses and spoils me in hopes of never wanting to rebel against him,” Katherine said with a shrug. 

Sarah furrowed her eyebrows, processing the brief explanation. 

“If he didn’t have children, why bring you with him?” Sarah asked. 

“Goodness if I know,” Katherine said with a small laugh. “He’s not evil, he’s my  _ father  _ and well, he likes me, I think… While he didn’t plan on kids, he loves me now that I’m around, I guess,” she said. 

Sarah nodded slowly. She didn’t get that, but okay. Her parents had wanted kids. Originally, they only wanted two, and they ended up having her and David as twins. It was fine for them, then seven years later Les came along and no one thought anything of it. It was just one more kid, which obviously Ma and Pa  _ loved _ . They all loved each other, as much as Sarah and David fought. 

She couldn’t even begin to imagine the idea of her father deciding to go off with another woman. Maybe the immortality had a big part in the fact. Couldn’t really run off with someone who was actually capable of dying. 

“Have you ever been to a Theater?” Katherine asked. “Like a, Picture Palace,” Katherine asked. Sarah looked at her blankly, not entirely sure what she was asking about. The name was… familiar, somewhat, but in the end she just shook her head. 

“We should go to one then- together… you know, the town just over has one. It’s a bit smaller than most but it’s pretty fortunate such a small area has one. Oh, they’re  _ marvellous  _ things,” Katherine gushed. 

“I could say it sounds wonderful, but I’m still very lost,” Sarah admitted. 

“You know what a play is?” Katherine asked. 

“Of course,” Sarah laughed. 

“It’s like that, only it’s moving pictures! And silent, but oh they’re magical,” Katherine said. “We could go tonight! I haven’t any clue how to drive, but if we left soon we could walk! I’d just go back and get my purse and some money and we could go!” She continued on excitedly. 

“I don’t have a nickel to my name Kath,” Sarah said. She shrugged. 

“I just said I was sitting comfortably at home, I’ll pay! It’s not too horribly expensive, goodness this’ll be fun! You might want to get changed though, something more… formal maybe?” Katherine continued on, just finding any excuse to drag Sarah out. 

She knew she shouldn’t. She knew no one would want her to go out and do anything. It was a stupid risk and she already messed up and told Katherine pretty much everything. Who knew what could come of that. 

Still, instead of rejecting the offer, she smiled and nodded. 

“Sounds like a lovely idea then,” Sarah said. 

Katherine’s face lit up at that and she nodded profusely. 

“Wonderful! I’ll just, run home… and then we can walk over there! It’ll be far but  _ oh so  _ worth it! Long as I don’t get caught at home, I already snuck out to come see you. Granted, Father shouldn’t be home today so… I’m sorry I’m rambling now,” Katherine laughed. “I’ll be back! Just need to go get my things… wear something nice!” She exclaimed, before she was running past their little stable, and back towards the path that lead into the forest. 

Sarah wondered if it would just be easier to just go on the main road to get back to Katherine’s house. Sarah didn’t actually know where it was, of course, so maybe it did just make more sense to go through the confusing paths in the wood. 

She watched the empty path for a minute. Then, as a sudden gust of wind blew, she wrapped her arms around herself and headed back inside. 

David and Les were back in the living room, both reading their own books. 

“Ma and Pa still not around?” she asked. Both of them glanced up. David didn’t acknowledge her, but Les just shrugged. 

“Nah, haven’t seem ‘em,” Les said. David cleared his throat and spoke up without looking up from his book. 

“They’re down in uh, Salmer I think, sellin’ stuff. They dropped off the paper last night after getting some more beads, and then were off,” David explained. 

Sarah blinked, kind of dumbfounded. He had known, but Sarah hadn’t? 

She sighed, before she went to her room. 

After shutting her door softly, she turned to stare at herself in the small wall mirror hung hastily on the back of her wall. It was the same mirror she had had since she was little- still aging. Unfortunately, the mirror hadn’t aged as well as Sarah had. 

The mirror itself had a copper tint to it, making everything reflected in it a more orange tint. While the outsides intricate metal design of flowers and vines were discoloured. Once a beautiful, shiny gold, now an unfortunate mix of dull shine, green and black from wear. 

She stepped towards it, then picked up her brush and slowly brushed her hair, taking her time. She never really brushed or took care of it. Her appearance in general. At least when she was home. 

She never left the house when she was home. If she did, it was usually brief and not in any of the towns. 

Now she was about to sneak off with Katherine, a very pretty girl who took care of her appearance and clearly put effort in. She wondered, as she brushed out a tight knot, if Katherine’s hair was naturally curly like that, or if she curled it. Her hair, the first time she had seen her, her hair had been done up in a pretty bun with a ribbon that matched the colour of her dress. Then today, she wore her hair down with just the fronts tied back. She doubted it would still be like that once Katherine came back. 

Sarah hated it, but it seemed most women wore their hair up nowadays. Sarah couldn’t stand her hair being pinned up, and so she didn’t. Even with her cursed straight, uncurlable hair, she just left it down. She wasn’t about to cut it all off to fit in either. If she cut it- it wouldn’t ever come back. 

She set down her brush and stared at her hair. When Katherine said  _ wear something more formal _ Sarah had no clue what that meant. 

She owned three dresses, and two were packed away in the bottom of her trunk, but she hadn’t tried them on since the fifties. They’d still fit, of course, but were far out of fashion at this point. It would just look weird. 

She hesitated, before opening the trunk. She moved the things from on top, before taking out a dress. Sarah smiled at the soft yellow dress, discoloured just slightly as she quickly changed into it. 

Sarah couldn’t see herself in the mirror, not in her entirety, but she could see the bust. It fit kind of odd, since she hadn’t been wearing a corset (and never planned to again, if she could help it) or any of the undergarments. Still, she smiled at the dress. 

From outside, David started walking around and Sarah quickly changed back into the dress she had been wearing earlier. 

Of her dresses, it was the nicest one she had by far. She could maybe dress it up a little bit, and she was sure she had a bit of makeup sitting around. She could make this work. Sure, she had no clue how to do anything with her hair, but maybe she could figure something out. 

All in all, she gave up on her hair soon after, and focused on her dress. She found a pair of stockings, again, something she never wore but still had just in case. She tied a silk ribbon around her waist. The white ribbon went fine with the olive green dress, so she had just decided that it was all she could do to improve her outfit. 

It was helpless, really. Katherine never said there was a strict dress code, but Sarah really had no clue. All she could do was hope. 

Instead of lingering around inside, she slipped back out of the house and wandered down the path towards where Katherine would be coming. Since she wasn’t telling anyone, she didn’t want to be caught outside. 

She didn’t have to wait long before Katherine was coming back. She smiled at Sarah, before the two met each other at the start of the path in the wood. 

“You barely changed,” Katherine laughed lightly. Katherine had completely changed her outfit, and like Sarah suspected, she had done her hair up once more. 

“Well, hate to break it to ya, I don’t own anything nice,” Sarah said with a small laugh. “‘N I never get dressed up.” 

“Well, I thought ahead,” Katherine grinned, before nodding back into the house. Sarah sighed and followed her. Les was in the kitchen and David in his room, so neither of them saw them walk in and go straight back into Sarah’s room. 

“This is a pretty dress,” Katherine said, her eyes catching the yellow dress Sarah had yet to put away. Sarah laughed lightly and smiled. 

“It’s older than your father,” she said as she folded it up again. “I’s got another one… it’s a bit newer- by that I mean maybe…  _ the seventies? _ ” Sarah thought aloud before she put it back in the trunk. Katherine sat on the bed, and nodded, silently asking to see it. 

“It’s pink,” Sarah said lightly, before she found it and shook it out. “Don’t go well with my complexion, Mama used to say… but I wore it anyways.” 

“Wear it,” Katherine said with a small nod. “At least, try it on.” 

Sarah hesitated before she changed. Katherine kept her gaze on the bed as she did so, before Sarah cleared her throat to let Katherine know she was done. 

Katherine smiled and stood up, before she smoothed out the fabric. She untucked some of the lace that was at the base of the three quarter sleeves. 

“It’s a bit old, but I think it’s nicer than the green one,” Katherine said as she adjusted it a bit more. “Lemme do your hair,” she said excitedly, going around to stand behind Sarah. 

“It’s a shame we don’t have time to curl your hair,” she said absently, as she ran her hand through Sarah’s hair. 

“Wouldn’t curl anyways,” Sarah said with a small laugh. Katherine shrugged as she twisted hair away from the front of her hair. 

“You never know,” she said absently as she worked at Sarah’s hair. By time she had finished, intertwining a spare ribbon Katherine had brought along, the two quickly decided they needed to start walking… right then and there. 

Sarah only had a second to admire herself in the mirror, before the two snuck back out of the house and went down the street. At first, the two walked quickly, just incase Sarah’s family was around, but once they had gotten far enough away, they slowed to a steady pace and walked. 

She felt kind of ridiculous in this old dress again, especially next to the one Katherine was wearing, but she didn’t say a thing. Maybe she could pass it off as a desire for a more…  _ vintage _ look. 

 

By time they got to the next town over, both girls were exhausted and parched. The entire time, Katherine was insisting it would be worth it in the end. Sarah really hoped she had been right, considering how sore her feet was. 

They had to wait around a bit before the next show started, and since Sarah really didn’t want to have Katherine pay for more than the entrance fee for the show, the two just wandered around. Neither of them had been to the town before, despite how close it was, so it was a nice walk around.

Eventually the two found themselves in front of the theatre. Katherine had mentioned at some point that the theatre was a smaller one, but when Sarah entered, she thought it was anything but. 

The walls and ceilings were laced with intricate wood mouldings, paired with several matching crystal chandeliers- or maybe they were just hanging lights… Sarah didn’t know, but they were beautiful. The floors were meticulously tiled in a spiral pattern, with the center being in the center of the lobby. There were stairs on either sides behind the box office, with signs above them directing where they went. 

The first one had  _ Balcony, Billiard Room  _ and  _ Bar  _ written in a fancy white font against black. On the other side, in the same font, was written  _ Restaurant, Dance Floor  _ and  _ Nursery.  _ While Katherine approached the box office and purchased their tickets, Sarah gazed around, still in  _ awe  _ that  _ this  _ was considered a small theatre. 

“How many people does this seat?” Sarah asked as Katherine came back over. Katherine shrugged. 

“I’ve no clue, but it’s a lot,” she said with a small laugh. “There’s much larger theaters in the world, I’ve been to a few actually… ones were right from the entrance there’s ushers to take you to your location… And well,” she paused. “Here there’s just ushers in the theater… shall we go sit?” Katherine asked. Sarah nodded, before the two found their place up on the balcony. 

Once the film had been finished, the two happily left the buildings, arms linked together as they chatted about what they had seen. Sarah already forgot the title, but it was just fascinating to watch people move, on screens, with music and cuts and  _ everything.  _

Katherine gushed happily about how the technology for movies were improving so quickly, and was going on about how she believed they would be able to actually have talking in the films, and maybe someday even colour. Sarah smiled as she watched her, both of them dimly lit by the moonlight. 

It would be a long walk back- far too long for this late at night, however Sarah quickly decided that it was very much worth it. Her parents would kill her, she knew that for sure. It was near nine thirty by time the film had ended, and while she wasn’t certain, she knew the walk back would be at least another hour. 

Katherine briefly toyed with the idea of them finding a taxi, but Sarah dismissed it. She was fine walking- this wouldn’t be something that would make her family turn on her forever. Besides, she liked Katherine. She was her first real friend in… nearly a hundred years. She was so kind and filled with life and well, she was actually interested in her. 

Sarah could get used to this. She shouldn’t, but she could. Even if it was just for a while, before Katherine gets old and forget her. 

_ Unless _ … 

No. Sarah shook the thought quickly from her head. That was crazy, and she would never make Katherine make that decision. 

Katherine laughed as she recalled something and Sarah smiled. Well, maybe she could think about it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I did a fair bit of research about Movie Theaters, but I know it's not entirely accurate, but we're just going to roll with it. Okay? Okay.


	6. The Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She's short and unedited. Enjoy!

Sarah laughed as Katherine dramatically sighed, leaning up against a tree. They were maybe half way back now, just to Sarah’s cottage. They were both exhausted and their feet were sore, but they were powering through it. Or at least, were trying too. 

“Who thought this was a good idea,” Katherine said with a small laugh as she let her hair down, shaking it out. 

“What? The whole  _ walking a town over to a theater _ ?” Sarah asked, slipping off her shoes. They were too uncomfortable to be worth wearing anymore. 

“Yes!” she exclaimed as she tossed whatever she had taken out of her hair into her purse. 

“Well, hate to break it to ya, but that was on you sweetheart,” Sarah said playfully. The two started walking down the path again. 

Katherine shook her head and nudged Sarah lightly, who nudged her back, which ripplied into a solid thirty seconds of them shoving each other before Sarah tripped, and fell off the path into the grass. 

Katherine gasped, before quickly helping her stand up. Sarah laughed, brushing herself off as Katherine rested her hands on Sarah’s shoulders. Clearly she was taking the small little accident  _ way  _ too seriously. 

“You’re okay, right?” Katherine asked, brushing off both of Sarah’s sleeves. 

“Of course,” Sarah laughed. She smiled and rested a hand warmly on Katherine’s bicep. She gave it a small, comforting squeeze before nodded. “It was just a small little fall,” she reassured her. 

“There’s dirt on your dress now,” Katherine pointed out. Sarah shrugged, before she reached out and held her hand. 

“I’ll just wash it,” she said simply. Katherine nodded hesitantly as she laced her fingers with Sarah’s. Then, both of them comfortably standing side by side, began to walk again, neither of them pulling their hands away. 

Sarah really liked Katherine. Sure, she had only known her for a few days, but there was something special about her. It could have easily just been the fact that she knew about her family, but she just liked to think the two clicked really well. Sarah never got that much as a kid- she didn’t really have friends since she was so focused on helping out her family. Then rumors started spreading about David and the family had to stay on the downlow, then they needed to leave and then well, they became immortal. 

Suddenly Sarah had to be lying about  _ everything  _ to everyone, and was never allowed to stay anywhere more than maybe a year. Less if she had Les with her. 

With Katherine though, thanks to her stupid decision to admit the truth to her, she knew, and she didn’t have to hide. Most importantly, she felt like she could genuinely trust her. She could tell Katherine her deepest darkest secrets, and not even a hundred dollars would break her. Whether or not that was true, Sarah didn’t know, but that didn’t change her opinion on her. 

Casually, Katherine reached out and took her hand. Sarah smiled at her as they lazily laced their fingers together, and moved closer, off to the side of the road. 

“The stars are pretty,” Sarah commented. Katherine hummed happily in response, swinging their hands back and forth. 

“I uh… spent some time in Chicago few months before coming back here and the lights were so strong that you couldn’t see anything… I missed them,” she said with a thoughtful laugh. Katherine continued to smile as she looked up. 

“My uncle studied the stars,” Katherine said. “He was a uh… a… what’re they called- well he studied stars and I didn’t see him much- he still lives in New York, haven’t seen him in a long time but… he used to take me out away from the cities and such and show me constella- constellations! And talk about them, what they mean and stuff,” Katherine said, her eyebrows knitted together as she thought, clearly rusty on the topic. 

Sarah laughed and shook her head lightly. 

“Oh I don’t know anything about that, I just like looking at ‘em,” she said happily as she looked at Katherine. She liked looking at Katherine too. 

Just the way she smiled, and how her hair was always done so nice, and her dresses were so perfectly tailored for her. She was so… picture perfect, yet Sarah found her appearance comforting. 

“That’s always fun too,” Katherine said with a small nod, her tone hinting at the idea of switching topics. 

Sarah hummed as a small response, and then the two fell into a comfortable silence. At one point, Katherine had slowly taken her hand away from Sarah’s and rested it back at her side. Sarah quickly grew to miss her hand, but made no move to acknowledge it. Instead, the two continued to walk side by side. They started to slow down significantly, both of them getting more and more tired with each passing step. 

_ Just ten more minutes,  _ Sarah couldn’t help but think. She didn’t actually know how much further they were from Sarah’s cottage. A part of her wanted to offer Katherine the couch, but knew her parents would be a lot more than surprised if they woke up to a girl sleeping in their parlour. 

Still, she didn’t want Katherine walking the additional half a mile by herself… Especially this late at night. 

Sarah sighed lightly in thought. Katherine was old enough to be able to carry herself through. If something were to happen, she for sure seemed like the type to just straight up punch someone if they tried to touch her. She hoped that was true. She  knew she would be okay though, she had no doubt about it. 

“What’s it… truly like to live forever?” Katherine asked, breaking the silence once more. Sarah made a small  _ um _ to show she had heard, but took her time to think. 

How  _ did  _ she describe it? 

“Hard,” Sarah finally said as her mind was racing with a thousand ideas at once. 

“How so?” Katherine asked curiously as she reached for Sarah’s hand again. She absently took it, before giving it a small squeeze. Again, Sarah took her time to decide how she wanted to explain it. 

“Well… you miss out on a lot… I uh, before we realized what had happened- the whole  _ immortal  _ thing- I had been married, planning on kids, all those things but… suddenly I find out I’ll never die or be harmed and that whole idea is gone,” Sarah said with a small nod. “I kinda always wanted a family, and I still  _ could,  _ but they’d age and eventually get older than me… it just… seems unfair.” 

Katherine nodded slowly, not commenting on her take at all. Sarah glanced at her, before clearing her throat and speaking again. 

“ _ But, _ at the same time, I’ve got to see and experience so many things I never would have been able too if I had lived a normal life,” she said. Katherine smiled, her entire facial expressions softening, which caused Sarah to smile. 

“Like what?” Katherine asked. 

“Well… I told ya about  _ Titanic _ , and I’ve seen  _ so much  _ of the world.” Sarah gushed. “I’ve been to London, Venice, all over America and Canada,” she rambled on. Katherine smiled and nodded slowly. 

“I’d love to see the world,” Katherine commented. 

“It’s wondrous,” Sarah said with a small laugh. I’ll be alive for another thousand years and I’ll never get enough of it.” 

“A thousand years? You really think so?” Katherine asked. Sarah thought for a moment. 

“I mean… probably,” Sarah said with a small shrug. “I’ve been alive for over a hundred years now, and nothing’s changed. Besides well, the world itself.” She laughed lightly. “Who knows what’s in store for the future-  but I’ll be there for all of it, and while it’s kinda scary, I’m excited to see where the world goes.”

“I’ve barely seen anything,” Katherine commented. 

“Well, you’re fifteen,” Sarah pointed out. Katherine sighed and shrugged. 

“Not because of my  _ age _ , but just my father. Even when I’m married off with kids he’d never let me go further than a hundred miles away from home,” she said with a small huff. 

“That’s a shame,” Sarah said shortly. She really had no clue what else she could say. 

“I guess, but that’s life,” she said with a small sigh. Sarah nodded slowly, and the two continued walking. 

“You know, realistically he can’t keep you from doing what you want,” Sarah pointed out. “Once you’ve moved out,  _ married _ , whatever it is, he’s not in control of you.” 

“Well, when he’s as rich as he is, yeah a little bit,” she said. “He’s made it  _ very  _ clear, it’s his way or the highway. No jobs, no relationships unless they’re approved by him, no nothing.” 

“Do you  _ want  _ a job?” Sarah asked. 

“I’d love to be an author,” Katherine said, before quickly correcting herself. “Well, a journalist… Like, writing in papers… reporting on news and stories,” she said. “Traveling the world would be amazing too, I’d love to be in your position.” 

Sarah nodded. She was thinking again, stupid  _ stupid  _ thoughts, but they were there. 

“You wouldn’t be able to write in papers,” Sarah pointed out. “At least, you  _ could _ , but only until it doesn’t get suspicious.” 

“How do you get around with work?” Katherine asked. “You need money, don’t you?” 

Sarah nodded. 

“Well of course. I do a lot of freelancing,” she said. “I do a lot of tailoring, and baking… cake decorating and stuff. Sometimes I’ll settle down in a town and get a job for a year or two. Constantly changing my name and I can never  _ really  _ settle down anywhere… but it’s work.” 

“I could do that,” Katherine pointed out. “If I were to… settle down two three years somewhere and write, and then move and start again. I would be able to write for  _ years _ … I could write for stories that take place in sixty years in the  _ future! _ ” 

“It would be hard though, to constantly restart,” Sarah pointed out. 

“But… it would be so  _ worth it _ ,” Katherine exclaimed. Sarah laughed and smiled softly. 

“Well… if you really want to, drink,” Sarah said. 

“ _ What? _ ” 

“Well, when you’re seventeen-  _ just so you’re a bit older _ … drink from the spring,” Sarah said. 

“And just… become immortal,” Katherine said bluntly. Sarah nodded. 

“You and me we could… share the  _ world _ ,” she said, wonder shining through her voice as she spoke. Finally, the idea that snuck up on her earlier this morning was being vocalized, and it just kind of felt right. 

“Think about it- we could run off, you’d  _ never  _ have to worry about your father… we could move  _ anywhere  _ in the world! Settle down in small apartments and work for a few years, you could write, I’ll do…  _ whatever  _ to get by,” she said. “We could see the world- go  _ everywhere  _ and see  _ everything  _ there is to offer. I wouldn’t be so lonely all the time.” 

“You really think I could?” Katherine asked excitedly. 

“I think so,” Sarah said. “The waters not going anywhere!” She laughed lightly. 

“You and me- just  _ living, _ ” Katherine said. 

“We could,” Sarah said with a nod. 

“But… when I’m seventeen?” Katherine asked. 

“Well yeah, then we’d be the same age,” Sarah pointed out. “And well, as much as I really would love you coming with me, it’s a  _ big  _ decision, you shouldn’t… jump right into things.” Katherine nodded. 

“I don’t know why I  _ wouldn’t  _ want to drink it! Goodness it sounds amazing already,” Katherine grinned. “I can’t wait ‘til I’m seventeen.” 

Sarah smiled and playfully nudged Katherine, who nudged back as they walked. 

“So it’s a deal then?” Sarah asked. “I’ll come back when you’re seventeen- this time, in two years time, and you’ll drink, and we’ll… live the world together,” Sarah said. Neither of them could wipe the grins off their faces. 

“You’ll plan a great first adventure for us?” Katherine asked. 

“The  _ best _ . Jewel stealing and everything,” she joked. Both of them laughed. 

“Sounds perfect,” Katherine said. 

And then the two made eye contact for the first time while having this conversation. Sarah smiled, and Katherine did too, and then Sarah nudged her again. Katherine grinned and then took her hand away, before hugging Sarah tightly. Sarah smiled, before she hugged back, resting her head on her shoulder. 

Then, the two pulled away and kept walking, Katherine’s excited voice rambling on about so many things at once, it was starting to get hard for Sarah to keep up. 

 

Sarah let out a sigh of relief as they approached her cottage. Her eyes were heavy, and it was  _ long  _ past her bedtime. She doubted that the sun was coming up soon, but it felt like that. 

Katherine turned back to Sarah for one last hug. 

“You’ll be good to walk the rest of the way?” Sarah asked. Katherine nodded. 

“Yeah of course I will be,” Katherine said with a small grin. “I’ll come back to let you know I’m okay tomorrow, alright?” 

Sarah nodded. “I’ll see you.” 

“Of course,” Katherine grinned and hugged her again. 

With aching feet, probably dried with blood after having walked home in bare feet on the gravel road, Sarah walked up the path and slipped inside the house. 

She smiled to herself as she glanced around, noting how it seemed the house had been shut down for the night. Slowly, she made her way to the kitchen and wet a cloth. After glancing at the time (two twenty) she sat down at the table and began wiping down the bottoms of her feet, before she took off her stockings and continued to wipe her feet off. 

“Thought I heard yous up,” David’s tired voice suddenly came from behind her. Sarah jumped in her chair, before turning around to face him. She sighed softly, and went back to her feet. 

“Whaddya doin up?” Sarah asked, not bothering to look back again. 

“Waitin’ for you. Where the ‘ell did you go?” David asked, his voice instantly growing cold. Sarah sighed heavily and put the rag back in the sink. 

“Out,” she said shortly. 

“You got all dressed up,” David pointed out. Sarah shrugged. 

“Kath and I just… went to the town over, saw a show,” she said simply. There was no point in arguing with him, and she just wanted to go to sleep. 

“Kath? You’ve given her a  _ nickname _ ?” David asked. 

“It’s not that big of a deal David!” Sarah exclaimed. “We just went out and had a little fun.”

“We can’t get caught,” David said sternly. 

“And I  _ didn’t _ . And I  _ won’t _ . We walked three  _ hours  _ just so we’d be somewhere that wouldn’t notice me,” Sarah said with a small shake of the head. “I get it, you’ve got a stick so far up your ass you can’t do anything fun, but I can! I wanna enjoy life, David. We’re stuck here, I might as well have some fun.” 

“Sarah, that’s not what I-”

“But you were going to tell me off?” Sarah snapped. 

“Well,” David started. Sarah shook her head. 

“I’m going to bed Dave,” Sarah said, before she walked past David, and down the hall to her bedroom. She was too tired to argue. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually really happy with this story and the direction it's going on. This chapter was very short, thanks to me accidently not giving my outline much depth in some chapters, but I mean, I'm doing my best. 
> 
> [ Here's my tumblr, Bittersweet-skylines, if you wanna follow me and talk! ](https://bittersweet-skylines.tumblr.com/)


	7. The Town

The tension between Sarah and David was heavy, even three days later. Sarah had met up with Katherine again twice, and at one point David threatened to tell their parents about Katherine, who was still a secret to their parents. 

Sarah hesitantly reached across from David at the table to grab the tea pot, and slowly started pouring more tea into her cup. Everyone was eating, a warm chatter filling the room. Most of it was from Ma, Pa and Les though. Sarah and David stayed silent, for the most part. Ma had made flapjacks and fried fish (Les and Pa had gone fishing that morning, managed to get a few catches while they were out on a nearby pond.) 

David cleared his throats as he finished off the last bit of food on his plate. 

“I was thinking… of probably going into town to get train tickets sorted out today,” David said. Ma frowned and Les shot him a confused look. 

“You’re still here for another two weeks though,” Ma said, somewhat hurt by the idea of David getting so ready to leave already. This time, David was going  _ without  _ Les too, meaning he could leave whenever. 

“Well,  _ no _ , I just… wanna make sure we get tickets… they’re cheaper if you get them in advance,” David said casually as he picked at the crumbs of his plate. “I could uh, get Sarah and Les’s tickets too, if you’d guys like, just gimme a location.” 

“Sarah will go with you, if you plan on doing it then,” Pa said, nodding towards Sarah who was too focused on her tea, only half listening. 

Sarah held back a scoff. She didn’t particularly  _ want  _ to go into town with David. She was still stupidly pissed at him, rightfully so, in her opinion. 

“That’s actually a good idea,” Ma chimed in. “You two are in charge of your own trips anyhow.” 

Sarah felt his heart sink into her stomach as she realized that she realistically only had two more weeks with Katherine before she had to take off again, since the kids were never supposed to hang around home for too long. She didn’t want to say goodbye to her- even if she knew that she would see her soon and the two of them would be practically bonded for life. 

Practically marriage, only not, because they were both females, and not romantically involved. 

That thought made her smile though. She’d have an actual partner to travel with. Not alone for half the time and then with Les for the other half. She loved Les to bits, but he tended to go on long fits of doing nothing but moping around and not speaking, sometimes not even getting out of bed. Everyone knew it was just because he was the one who took the immortality the hardest. 

At least Sarah and David were old enough to be able to go off on their owns and for it to look normal. Les couldn’t, because he was only ten, just barely that. He often went on tangents about wanting to grow and hit puberty and actually get to experience life. 

“You’ll go with him, right Sarah?” Ma said, bringing Sarah from her thoughts. 

She hummed, before everything kinda processed and she nodded. 

“Yeah, yeah, of course I will, not a problem,” she said, rushing her words out before she finished off her last flapjack. “I’ll just go change,” she said with a small nod as she stood up. She and David made eye contact, and Sarah quickly averted it. She picked up her tea and headed out towards her room. 

She didn’t want to be alone with David. He would criticize her and remind Sarah how stupid it was that she was spending so much time with Katherine, giving her so much information on their lives. 

Of course, David didn’t know what she and Katherine plammed. 

Sarah hummed as she changed, before returning to the kitchen. Everyone was still sitting around the table talking. David looked at Sarah, and Sarah looked at David, before David stood up and pushed in his chair. 

“Okay, let’s head off then,” David said. Sarah nodded, before turning on her heels and making her way towards the door. David followed shortly after, before he started making his way back towards the small stable. Sarah hesitated, before she followed behind him. 

“We takin the horse?” Sarah asked as she caught up to him. 

“Course we are,” David replied as he started getting her ready to be ridden. “It’s a stupid long walk without it.” 

“Please I walked to Abbethforth. That’s a stupid long walk,” Sarah said playfully with a small laugh. David just rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah well, we’re going to get train tickets and that’s  _ it _ . No fun events to get us caught,” David said coldly. Sarah scoffed. 

“Please, like I was going to get recognized in  _ that  _ town. The last time I was there it had a population of negative two,” Sarah said sarcastically. 

David didn’t say anything as he helped her up on the horse. Sarah didn’t say anything as she helped him up on the horse. They both adjusted. Sarah wrapped her arms around David’s waist lightly as the horse started to trot. 

Once they had actually made it into town, they both got out and walked next to the horse, David was guiding it while Sarah just walked alongside them. 

Sarah gazed around, wanting to break the silence but not entirely sure how. What did she say? She was almost to tempted to tell David about Katherine, what he  _ didn’t  _ know about Katherine, just so she had an excuse to break the silence. 

“Les tried to run off with the circus a few years ago,” David randomly said. Sarah furrowed her eyebrows, before she looked over to David. He looked just about as uncomfortable as Sarah was. 

“Why?” Sarah asked. David shrugged. 

“He was bored, mad at me for whatever reason, and figured he could use his immortality as an act.  _ The Boy Who Survived Everything _ he wanted to call himself,” David said. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Sarah asked flatly, not really interested in the stupidity of Les’s adventures. 

“I hate being mad at you Sarah,” David admitted. “I… only see you every now and then, and I don’t want to spend the last weeks of being with ya just hating you for… finding someone you can talk to.” 

“You can talk to me Dave,” Sarah said softly, looking over at David with a small smile. 

“I know I can, doesn’t mean I wanta,” he said with a small shrug. “I ain’t wanting to talk to you. I know what you’re likely going to get at, just… I love ya, a lot and I get where you’re coming from with Katherine.” 

“You do?” Sarah asked. 

“I do,” David said hesitantly. “I just… here’s the thing Saz. You shouldn’t have told her about us being the way we are. That gets people curious and sooner or later, she might want to drink and… really she shouldn’t do that.” 

“Why not though?” Sarah asked. David hesitated. 

“Think about it- would you really want to take away all the things in life we missed out on from Katherine? Aging, having families?” David asked. 

“You wouldn’t have had one,” Sarah pointed out playfully. 

“Maybe I could’ve,” he said. “A partner, at least. Maybe not kids but…”

“We shouldn’t be talking about this here,” Sarah said, referring to the idea of his sexuality. David nodded slowly. 

“No we shouldn’t… but my point is, don’t tell Katherine about the spring if you haven’t already. She’ll be curious, and then drink and she’ll probably regret it like the rest of us,” David said. 

“Who said I regretted drinking?” Sarah asked, looking over to David. 

David went quiet, knitting his eyebrows together as he thought. Sarah went quiet, looking down at her feet. 

She spoke the truth. She didn’t regret drinking the water. Sure, it was tough at some points but she  _ liked  _ being immortal. She liked being able to live forever- she’d get to live and experience so many interesting things that she wouldn’t have otherwise. All at the risk of not dying. 

Sarah cleared her throat and both of them looked at each other expectantly before they both looked ahead. The train station was close now, Sarah knew that. Just a bit longer of this horrible unneeded awkward tension and they’d be heading back towards home. 

Sarah stayed back with the horse as David went up to get their tickets. They had decided that the three of them would go west together, and then after that, Sarah and Les would go wherever they wanted to, and David would head off alone. It just was easier that way, instead of picking locations out separately, since it was so last minute and all. 

Davey returned with a small envelope, which he tucked into the pocket of his jacket. Without much talking, the two started back towards home. 

“I’d love to go to Greece I think- haven’t been there for a  _ long  _ time,” Sarah said just to break the silence as they were nearing the edge of town. David nodded before clearing his throat. 

“Les and I were just there, actually,” David said. Sarah made a small  _ oh  _ sound, which caused David to speak up again quickly. “ _ He loved it though _ ! I’m sure he’d be happy to go again,” David said with a nod. 

Sarah laughed lightly. She was sure Les would complain about it, he tended to complain about a lot of things. He was nearly ten, after all. That’s what little kids did. So, maybe Greece wasn’t an option. Sarah loved it when she got to take Les around, but she hated that David seemed to take him  _ everywhere  _ Sarah wanted to go, before Sarah would have a chance to do it. That was life though, she guessed. 

“Maybe we can go somewhere else then. You guys been to Canada recently?” Sarah asked. 

David laughed. 

“God no, not much up there from what I’ve heard,” David said humorously. “Apparently though Tor-” 

David stopped in his tracks as he and a man from across the street made eye contact. He seemed to be frozen in his spot, his mouth open agap just a bit as the man slowly started walking towards them. 

“Who’s that?” Sarah asked quietly. 

“He uh,” David said, but words didn’t seem to be coming out of his mouth. They both watched as the man came closer, curiosity showing through in every step closer he took. 

The man was slim, well dressed with silver hair and a matching beard. He spun a pocket watch on his finger, before tucking it into his pocket. 

“You have a lovely horse here,” he said, before reaching forward to touch it. His tone was cold, and his gaze never left David’s. Sarah took a step back, not wanting to get involved with  _ whatever  _ was about to happen. David was  _ shaking _ , visibly shaking and David never did that. 

“Thank you, Sir,” David said, putting on some weird accent that Sarah couldn’t quite place- british, maybe?

“I know it must be rather odd to have a complete stranger come up to you and just, pet your horse but my my, she is a beauty,” the man said, his eyes slowly going to Sarah, before he focused in on the features of the horse. 

“You keep her rather well groomed,” he said thoughtfully. David forced a small smile. 

“Well, this horse is my mother’s pride and joy,” David said. “Cares more for her than she does her own kids usually.” He was trying to crack a joke- Sarah could tell, but it was coming out more like a boy trying to get his last words in before he was hung. 

“It truly shines through,” the man mused. Again, his gaze went on David and it stayed there for an uncomfortable minute before he finally spoke up again. 

“May I ask your name,  _ sir _ ,” the man asked, stroking the horse’s mane. 

“Oh uh, Trevor… Baker,” David said. “This is my sister, Millie,” he said, nodding towards Sarah. Sarah cracked a smile and gave a bit of a wave. The man raised an eyebrow and looked curiously between the two. Sarah suddenly felt her heart drop into her stomach. Something was off about this, something that just didn’t seem right. 

“Wonderful to meet you Trevor,” he said. David gave a small nod. 

“You look awfully familiar,” he mused. 

“My uncle was pretty famous. I’m told I look like him quite often,” David said. “I’m sorry, but we are kind of in a rush right now.”

“Of course, I’d hate to keep you two waiting… enjoy the rest of your morning,” the man said. 

“You too,” David said with a small nod. The man gave David one more long gaze, before he slowly started to walk away, eventually turning his gaze from them to what was in front of them instead. 

David was still shaken up as the two started to walk again. Sarah had to take over guiding the horse back towards their cottage. David fidgetted nervously with his hands, glancing back behind him frequently. Sarah decided to wait until they were just outside of town to start to speak. 

“That man…” she started, only to trail off. 

“Pulitzer-  _ Joseph  _ Pulitzer… He uh, owned  _ The World _ \- the newspaper company I ended up striking for? That was him,” David said, staring ahead the entire time. Sarah looked at him. Of all their years of living, she had never seen David so scared. 

“Do you think he recognized you?” Sarah asked. Without hesitation, he nodded. A big, grand nod that showed that he was entirely sure of this assumption. 

“That’s why I gave him fake names… I think he remembered me,” David said. 

“Do you think we’ll need to-”

“Leave? No, but no more going into town, okay? I mean it Sarah. Not even with Katherine,” David said. Sarah didn’t like that idea. She wanted to be able to do as many interesting things with Katherine before she left for two years, but she knew it was for the best. At the end of the day, she needed to make sure that her family was safe. Doing stuff around towns with Katherine could wait until she drank. 

“Of course Dave- I won’t. I promise,” Sarah said with a small nod. “Will he be able to connect you back to the strike? Like could he find proof?” 

“There were two stories that ran in the official newspapers… The first one was the strike, there was a photo of all the Manhattan Newsies were there… I’m in the furthest corner. The second one though, the photo was of me… Jack Kelly and Spot Colon, somethin’ about Newsies working together after the strike. I’m clear as day in that one,” David said uncomfortably. Then, he let out a hoarse laugh. “Of course I end up in the papes twice. Just my luck.”

“You’ll probably be okay,” Sarah tried to weakly reassure him. He offered her a small smile, but it quickly faded. Sarah echoed the same smile, before she looked down at her feet as she walked. 

They kept silent for the rest of the walk home, side by side with Sarah guiding the horse down the path. At one point, they decided to just get back on it and rode the rest of the way back, which managed to cut the trip back just a bit. Sarah gave him another small smile, but didn’t get one in return. David just desaddled the horse, getting her comfortable in the stall before she climbed up to the roof of the stable. Sarah decided it was best just to leave him be, since clearly he was a bit shaken up just by that small encounter. 

She hesitantly decided to head back inside the house. She didn’t particularly  _ want  _ to stick around there. However, it was either that or sit in a thick silence with David, so really the idea of it wasn’t that bad. 

Inside, Pa was sleeping on the sofa while Les played some sort of card game by himself on the ground by his feet. Ma was nowhere to be seen. Les didn’t acknowledge her as she made her way back to her room, too interested in the cards in front of his hand. 

With a small huff, Sarah laid down on her bed, quickly pulling her quilt over herself. The walk itself was exhausting, and while she was far too hot to realistically be laying in bed with the blankets over her, she didn’t want it any other way. 

Eventually, after deciding that the attempt of a nap was more or less futile, Sarah picked up the closest book to her and began reading it. Anything to just pass the time. She was almost tempted to go out and sit with David, mostly to see if she could get any answers out of him about the strike. Course, she had read the first paper that David had mentioned. 

She could remember being in Brooklyn at the time of the strike, just by coincidence. She had bought the paper when the headline caught her eye. Then she saw David, read it, and then kept the paper in her suitcase until she lost it. She never told David, of course. She was certaining curious as to why David, who was  _ very much  _ a logical person, thought it was a good idea to get himself into a paper, with his  _ real name  _ of all things. 

Guess it was finally, twenty odd years later, coming back to bite David in the ass. It would bite her too, as well as Les, probably more Les than her really- he had been in that paper too. Really though, maybe the whole thing would quickly blow over. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I feel like this story has a theme of short chapters but eh, whatever right? I'm enjoying writing it though so if I want shorter chapters that's what I'm going to go for. 
> 
> Comments are really amazing- I know this hasn't gotten much attention- I don't know if anyone is actually reading this, but if you comment legit anything I'd be so grateful, happy and would totally respond to you. It would just be nice to see if someone was actually reading this haha.


	8. The Promise

Two days later, David was still freaking out about what happened in town. He had told Ma and Pa, and suddenly everyone was under house arrest. Sarah found it a bit unfair. So what- they accidently ran into someone who  _ might  _ have recognized him from years ago. It was doubtful too that he would be able to find them  _ or any proof _ . So why couldn’t Sarah even go to the spring? 

She never realized how boring it was inside home until she wasn’t allowed to leave. Sure, she could go around the property. She could garden or groom the horse or read or something, but goodness it was boring. 

Sarah just wished she could easily sneak out and go to the spring and just  _ sit there.  _ Or maybe Katherine would come and they could talk and do whatever they want. 

She missed Katherine. It had only been maybe five days since she last seen her, but gosh she missed her. It was so refreshing to have some to talk to and do stuff with. 

Sarah felt like a broken record with her thoughts. Katherine, Katherine, Katherine. That was all she could think about. Katherine and how she’s a friend and not family and she knows and she wants to join Sarah on her adventures and how the world is just so boring but maybe it wasn’t without Katherine, well no, it really was a lot more entertaining with Katherine because Katherine liked her and she liked Katherine and the two were going to go on such amazing adventures and have fun and it was all just so refreshing. 

She hummed as she skimmed Pa’s bookshelf. She had read most the stuff on it over the years, and silently wished that he indulged in buying more books more often. Of course, they really didn’t have the money for that all that often. She knew that- but she could still hope. 

Outside, Les was laying on the ground, staring up at the sky while Ma was working in their tiny little garden, probably harvesting what was ready. Sarah watched from the window, before she retreated back to the bookshelf and grabbed a random book, before she joined them outside. 

She wordlessly sat down next to Les and opened the book, settling into the grass. 

“You’ll get stains on your dress Sarah,” Ma said. She was facing away from Sarah, and hadn’t even looked back. 

“Not like I’m going anywhere,” Sarah pointed out as she laid back. “Besides- it’s my old one Ma, the one with the tear.”

“I told you to get rid of that one,” Ma said. “Or at least stitch the tear.” 

Sarah sighed and kept herself from rolling her eyes. She didn’t feel like it. She always spent so much time fixing up other peoples clothing that she never wanted to bother with her own. Besides, she was under house arrest now, so why’d it matter? 

Sarah sat up again and gazed around. Ma was dusting herself off, and started gathering up her stuff. 

“Stew or soup tonight?” Ma asked as she stood up. Sarah shrugged. 

“All the same to me,” Sarah called out, which Les happily agreed to. Ma sighed, before she left to go inside. 

Sarah waited a moment, and then another three before she glanced around. 

“I’m leaving- don’t tell Ma I left,” Sarah said as she stood up, dusting off her dress. 

“Where you off ta?” Les asked as he sat up. 

“None of your business. I just need to get out,” she said simply. “I’ll be back by dinner.”

Sarah didn't really know what she planned on doing once she got to the spring. She didn't have much to do at all, and the chances of Katherine being there was slim. 

Slim, but very possible, apparently. As Katherine was sitting on the edge of the spring when Sarah arrived. She hesitated, still unnoticed by Katherine, before she sat down next to her. 

“Oh, hello,” Katherine greeted her with a small smile, before looking back to the spring. Sarah gave her a smile before she looked down at the spring, deciding not to speak up yet. 

“Do you  _ have  _ to drink the water? Or can you perhaps… absorb it through the skin? Or an open wound?” Katherine asked, looking up from the water to look at Sarah, before she looked back to the water. Katherine was holding a stick with a two leaves on it. One was bright green without damage, while the other was mostly yellow, and looked like it was about to fall off. She stuck the stick in the water, deep in the mud, before stirring it up. She moved cautiously, as if if she touched the water, she’d end up immortal right then and there. 

Sarah didn’t know what to make of that. Sure, they  _ did  _ agree that Katherine could wait until she was seventeen, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it happened sooner than that. Maybe Katherine was starting to second guess it. Really, Sarah wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. It was a big decision, but they both agreed they could do amazing things together with it.

“I don't know,” Sarah admitted. “We all drank from the water. We also swam in it, but we all drank first so I… really can't say…” 

“Well, when I drink, maybe I'll try dumping it on a cut first?” Katherine suggested. Sarah raised an eyebrow. “And then I could scratch myself or something and if it heals we know! And if it doesn't I'll just drink. I just… I'm really curious about this now and I don't think I'll never  _ not  _ be curious about it.”

Sarah laughed lightly and smiled at her. She reached out and brushed her hand against the silk at the shallow part of the water. 

“Sure we can do that,” Sarah agreed with a nod. She wiped the water off on her dress, before she took off her shoes and put her feet in the water. “Could also do it on a frog or something right now to see,” she pointed out. Katherine laughed lightly. 

“Frogs absorb water through their skin though,” she pointed out. 

“That’s weird,” Sarah said bluntly. Katherine laughed again. 

“No, just science,” Katherine said. 

They both laughed lightly, before they went quiet once more. Katherine continued to play with the stick. The green leaf stayed on the stick, while the yellow one had fallen off, and was floating away towards the middle of the pond. 

“You kind of disappeared on me,” Katherine pointed out. Sarah sighed and played with the end of her dress. Sarah didn’t want to be reminded of that. 

“I uh. I know,” Sarah said. “A few days ago David ran into someone he knew from… twenty years ago and uh, well obviously it didn't go over well. Everyones kinda paranoid about it now,” Sarah explained. Katherine made a small  _ oh  _ sound as she gazed around. 

“I'm not technically supposed to be here,” Sarah said. Katherine nodded. 

“I put that together in my head,” Katherine said with a small laugh. Sarah nodded quickly. Of course she knew about it. 

“But I’m here- and I don’t plan on going back until I feel like getting yelled at,” Sarah said humorously. Katherine raised an eyebrow and looked at her curiously. 

“Why would you want that at  _ all _ ?” Katherine asked. 

“Exactly,” Sarah commented. Katherine furrowed her eyebrows. 

“I don’t want you getting in trouble,” Katherine said. Sarah shrugged. 

“I’m a hundred and eight… It’s not like they can ground me,” Sarah said with a small laugh. 

“So… you’re okay here?” Katherine asked. Sarah nodded. Katherine hesitated. “Okay good, because I want to be with you for a bit more.” 

Sarah nodded, and the two rested into that peaceful silence again. 

Sarah fiddled with the tear in her dress. It was a subtle one along the hem of the dress by her foot. She couldn’t remember when the dress had gotten the original tear in it. Probably while she was traveling. Sarah made a mental note to stitch it up once she got home. It was horribly dated, and probably hasn’t been in style for years now. That was bound to happen when you only ever bought a new dress every decade though, and really, Sarah couldn’t just buy a new one whenever she felt like it. 

It would be nice if she could. Like Katherine. Sarah had yet to see her wear the same dress twice, and though she didn’t pay attention to her accessories, she doubted that Katherine had reused hats, gloves or necklaces. That was a lie- her pearls that she wore around her neck, which had a small red charm in the center of it. 

“Where’d you get your necklace?” Sarah found herself asking. Katherine blinked, before the question seemed to process in her mind. 

“Oh uh, this?” Katherine asked, holding delicately to the small chain. Sarah quickly nodded. “It’s been in my family- on my mother, my  _ real  _ mother’s side for… three generations now,” she said with a small nod. “I never take it off.”

“It’s beautiful,” Sarah said. 

“It really is. I hope someday to have a daughter to pass it on to,” Katherine said happily. The smile slowly faded on Sarah’s face as she looked back at the water. Her blood slowed a bit, suddenly feeling like frozen molasses. 

“Sounds lovely,” she mused. 

Those pearls were as old as Sarah. They seemed to be the only static thing about Katherine, besides her beautiful updos and the soft pink lip stains she used. Katherine was always changing, wearing new dresses, each one a beautiful colour where every single one somehow complimented her perfectly. She probably had enough shoes to wear for an entire month without having to rewear the same pair twice. 

Sarah was pearls. Maybe not  _ Katherine’s  _ pearls, but she was pearls. Old and untouched. She couldn’t pass herself down with generations of people. That wasn’t possible. She was static. A set of pearls, shined and indestructible, placed safely on a display and locked behind glass. No one could get into it and take the pearls, passing it on to their daughter or son or  _ whoever  _ they felt fit. 

The pearls were stuck. Not even the end of the world could get them out of the glass case they were held in. 

Sarah looked at Katherine and Katherine looked back. She was smiling widely and Sarah forced a small smile in response. Her mouth was moving, but Sarah couldn’t focus in enough on what she was saying. She swallowed heavily. 

What would happen to Katherine’s pearls if she drank? There would be no one to pass them onto. She couldn’t have kids. Would she keep wearing the pearls? Would her outfits stop changing all the time? Would she rotate through three outfits like Sarah seemed to do? Would the pearls eventually break? Necklaces weren’t designed to last forever.

Nothing was designed to last forever. 

“So… if that guy David ran into knows him… are you guys going to stick around here?” Katherine asked. Her voice was strained, as if Sarah had been ignoring her for the past two minutes. She probably had been too. 

“Probably not,” Sarah said. “Ma and pa will… but not us kids. We’ll take off for another two years… Probably more if he’s still living around here,” Sarah said. “I might not be able to come back to you. We might have to meet somewhere else if you still want to come with me.”

If she wanted to become her pearls. 

Katherine nodded. 

“Why wouldn’t I want to come with you?” Katherine asked. 

_ Cause you have a life to live?  _

“Well you have two years to make a decision,” Sarah pointed out. 

_ And despite all these conflicting thoughts, I want you to just drink right now and come with me as fast as you can. I don’t want you to realize what a stupid decision you’d be making.  _

“Well I’ve already made it,” she said playfully. Sarah grinned, forcing her worries down the drain. She could stress about that in two years time when Katherine needs to actually decide if she was going to drink or not. 

“Well we can just wait then,” Sarah said happily. Katherine smiled and nodded, before she released her twig, letting it float out in the water a bit before it sunk down to the bottom of the pond. 

“So…” Katherine trailed off. “You’re immortal right?” 

“Yes,” Sarah laughed. “You’ve seen proof.”

“Stupid, scar worthy proof,” Katherine chimed in. Sarah laughed more and nodded. 

“Yes. Stupid, scar worthy proof. What are you getting at here?” Sarah asked. Katherine hesitated. 

“Can you breathe underwater?” Katherine asked. Sarah thought about it for a minute. 

“No,” she decided. “I don’t have fish lungs… so I can’t  _ breathe  _ underwater, but I mean, if I were to inhale water in my lungs and drown, I would be able to get the water out of my lungs- probably alone really… and I would survive- but I can’t breathe underwater. I’ll probably suffocate too and it wouldn’t be pleasant and all.” 

Katherine nodded slowly, before she shifted a bit and turned to look at Sarah. 

“That’s not as fun as I thought it would be,” Katherine said with a frown. Sarah felt her heart skip a beat. Was Katherine questioning her decision to drink already?

“Other things are fun though,” Sarah said with a quick, eager nod. “Like, I can hang from trees without a fear of falling. I can… try stupid stunts, or go on stupid roller coasters and not be freaked out. Oh! And just two years ago I jumped off of stupidly high cliffs and it was  _ such  _ a thrill,” Sarah gushed, at first a desperate attempt to get Katherine to be excited for immortality, while it quickly changed to just her happily talking about all the things she’s done. 

“Sounds exciting,” Katherine said happily. “I’m excited.”

“I am too,” Sarah said, grinning brightly. 

“Sucks that you’re gonna leave though,” Katherine said with a small huff. 

“Well, it would have happened either way…” Sarah trailed off sadly. “I leave for sure in two weeks for another few years- but I’ll be back for you.”

“You better be,” Katherine said, nudging her playfully. Sarah smiled and nudged her back. Sarah liked her.  _ Gosh  _ Sarah really liked her. So much. It was so stupid. 

Sarah’s entire thought process right now was just entirely stupid… but she liked it. A lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no update! It's short and kinda unedited. Sorry about that! I just have lost all motivation for writing recently and this chapter was slow and rough to write. Not to mention (once again) this is only one of thre stories I'm writing rn. Not that anyone reads this one lmao


	9. The Fight

“I want ta introduce you to my family,” Sarah said as they wandered back towards her little cottage. “I feel like… if I’ve been talking to you for what, a week and a half now? My parents should know. Ain’t like I ever really keep secrets from them.” 

“Thinks it’s a good idea? Thought your family was super against talking to people,” Katherine said. She looked over at Sarah with a worried expression, which Sarah just responded with a reassuring smile. 

“I think so,” Sarah said with a nod. “Spare them the details I think but… I really want you to come meet ‘em. You met Les and David- maybe if David  _ sees  _ that Ma and Pa are okay with me talking to you… that stick up his ass will loosen up a bit.” 

Katherine laughed lightly and shook her head. 

“Do you know if they’ll be okay with it?”

“I think so. Ain’t like I have poor judgement.” Sarah shrugged. Katherine raised an eyebrow with a small smirk. 

“Says the girl who jumped outta the tree the first chance she got,” she teased. Katherine nudged Sarah playfully, resulting in Sarah nudging her back. 

“I’ve got good judgement.”

“Yeah,  _ okay _ .” Katherine chuckled. Sarah smiled and shook her head, before she held back a branch for Katherine. 

“So right now then. I’ll introduce ya,” Sarah said. Katherine hesitated before she nodded. “Don’t worry Kath, they’ll love ya I’m sure. My folks are good people- if they’re mad about anything they’ll tell me off like the idiot I am once you’re gone.” She laughed, but Katherine just gave her a small, nervous smile. 

“I just don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“And you won’t! I’ll make sure of it. Nothing but good intentions here.”

Katherine sighed and nodded. 

“I trust you,” Katherine said. “I really do Sarah, I just don’t want your family to turn against you. I know David-”

“David and I haven’t been on the same page since eighteen forty seven. We bicker, we disagree on everything, it’s just how we work. He’s just bitter that I’ve got someone with me and he doesn’t,” Sarah said with a casual shrug. Of course, from what she gathered, David had had a much stronger bond with Jack than she had with Katherine.  _ So far.  _

“But, my folks love me, and I like to think that they know that I think and make my decisions on how safe I feel they are,” Sarah said. “I ain’t risking being found out by telling someone who I know won’t rant us out, right?”

“Course I would never,” Katherine said without hesitation. “It’s a miracle- I’d hate to make it suddenly seem like this completely sour thing.” 

“Glad we can agree,” Sarah said with a smile. 

They finished their walk back up to the cabin. Smoke came from the chimney, and light movement could be seen through the front windows, but no one was moving about outside. They all must have retreated inside at some point, unless they were just beyond view. If Sarah had to guess though, she was sure Les and David would be playing chess and Ma would be preparing dinner. Pa was for sure a hit or miss situation. 

Sarah slipped in first, before she gazed around. Just like she had guessed, David and Les were settled in the parlour, Pa’s self whittled wooden chess set placed out in front of them. 

“Where’s Ma?” Sarah asked, disrupting their intense silence. 

“Lookin’ for you,” Les said. “Pa’s sleeping though… Ma said she’d be back by time the stew was ready whether or not she found you or not. Course I didn’t tell her where you went- just like you asked!” All of this was said as his focus remained on the game in front of him. 

“You  _ knew  _ where she was?” David said. Then, he glanced up at Sarah. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, standing up and abandoning the game. 

“What’s Katherine doing here Sarah? Ma’s gonna see her,” David said coldly. 

“That’s kind of the plan,” Sarah said innocently. “I wants to introduce them- we’ve gotta take off in a few weeks and… Katherine wants to keep in touch somehow. If I can write to home, address the letters to her or something, she could pick them up from Ma.”

“This isn’t a happy fairytale Sarah, they’re going to be pissed you told Katherine.” 

“Were they when you told Jack?” Sarah asked, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly. 

“No. They don’t  _ know  _ I told him,” David said in a hushed tone. “And I only told you because I was  _ convinced  _ we were going down stuck in that damn room. I didn’t realize that even drowning could keep us from dying.”

Luckily, Les, who was still kept in the dark entirely was not listening, instead having taken to completing the game of chess by himself, sliding the board from side to side so he could play both the colours. 

“I can leave, Sarah. Before your Ma gets back-”

“What’s with all the chatter in here?” Pa asked from behind. 

“Can’t leave now,” Sarah muttered, just so that Katherine could hear it. Katherine smiled nervously. 

“Who’s this?” Pa asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. David shook his head and sighed, before returning next to Les, a silent gesture that told Sarah that  _ you’re on your own for this one _ . Of course, Sarah knew that from the beginning. 

“Uh, Pa, this is my friend, Katherine. She kind of knows everything?” Sarah said, a sudden wave of nervousness washing over herself. She had no clue how she was going to explain all of this. In her head, without being in the actual moment, all these thoughts just came flooding out in perfectly strung together sentences. 

“She’s good though,” Sarah said quickly as Pa’s face began to droop in concern. “She promised she wouldn’t tell anyone! I swear, I wouldn’t have brought her home to meet everyone if I didn’t know that for sure.”

Pa smiled, a small, forced one- though his smiles rarely reflected anything more like that to begin with. 

“Well, it’s lovely to meet you then Katherine,” he said, holding out his hand. Sarah smiled, a small wave of relief as Katherine took it, shaking it briefly before she returned next to Sarah’s side. “Ma’s still furious at you for taking off though, I’ll warn you that. I don’t know if this is the best time to break it to her.”

“I gotta- before we take off?” Sarah glanced back to Les and David, neither of whom were actually paying attention to their conversation. 

“How long has she known?” Pa asked. 

“Since we got here… Uh, this visit. Not long,” Sarah said with a small nod. 

“And how long have you  _ known  _ Katherine?”

“Same amount of time,” Katherine chimed in. Pa sighed, running a hand over his mostly bald scalp. Sarah could already tell they’d have a lot to catch up on once Katherine was gone for the night. The tension in the room made it very clear for everyone else as well. 

“Well, will you be staying for dinner?” Pa asked. Katherine glanced at Sarah, who just kind of shrugged. It was up to her if she wanted to stay. Sarah figured she might as well, but she stayed quiet until Katherine spoke up herself. 

“I suppose my parents wouldn’t notice my absence,” Katherine said with a small laugh. “As long as there’s enough for me, after all. I’d hate to be a burden.”

“Not a problem,” Pa said with a dismiss of his hand. 

Just then, the front door opened and Ma stepped inside, wiping at her forehead and panting lightly. 

“Nowhere! I’ve no clue where that  _ bloody  _ girl has gone!” Ma explained, taking brisk strides over to Pa, before she handed him her shawl and made her way towards the stove, tossing a few logs on the fire below before she stirred the stew above it. “Thinks she can just take off whenever- especially with that bloody man suspicious enough about us out there!”

“Uh, Ma?” Sarah said as she walked into the kitchen, Katherine and Pa trailing behind her. “I’m here.”

“And  _ where  _ have you- who the hell is this?!” Ma explained. Sarah sighed heavily. Katherine looked like she had no clue how to react, her mouth parted in alarm and Sarah nudged her hand in a move of reassurance. 

“Oh uh- I’m Katherine, mam,” Katherine began. Sarah shook her head subtly to her. 

“Ma, she’s a friend of mine. She knows- but she won’t say anything. She’s staying for dinner… and I’d like you to know who she is. She doesn’t live far, and she’s a really wonderful person,” Sarah said with a small nod. Ma looked between the two, and then looked to Pa. 

“She told you all this too?” Ma asked. 

“Just now- far as I’m concerned the boys just met her too.”

“Actually, they’ve known the entire time…  _ but it’s really not that big of a deal! _ I just wanted you to know her- incase she just sometimes shows up looking for me. I didn’t want you to be taken by surprise,” Sarah said. Ma’s facial expression soften into a smile, before she shook her head and turned back to her stew. 

“I trust your judgement, Sarah. If this backfires I’m putting it entirely on you. You’ve gotta be aware of this,” Ma said.

“Yes, of course. I know that,” Sarah said. 

“Alright- outta my kitchen then. I’ll call you in once it’s time to eat,” she said, dismissing the three of them. Katherine and Sarah exchanged a small set of smiles. Sarah wordlessly lead Katherine down the hallway to her bedroom, just so that the two of them didn’t have to sit with her family. 

“I thought for sure your Ma was going to murder you,” Katherine said as she sat down on the edge of Sarah’s bed. She furrowed her eyebrows, before she adjusted her seating position. Sarah laughed lightly and sat next to Katherine. 

“Probably would if she could,” Sarah admitted. “I’ll hear it later I’m sure. Just glad that they didn’t lash out at me with ya right here.” Katherine hesitated before she nodded. 

They stayed in silence, mostly sitting side by side. It wasn’t a pleasant silence, it was tense and filled with questions and neither of them knew what to say to make it seem less awkward. Of course, most of it had to be the fact that Katherine seemed rather tense around Sarah’s family. That was understandable, Sarah would be too. She just wished she could tell Katherine anything to calm her down. 

“Hey, you’ll essentially be family in a few years you know,” Sarah said, nudging her playfully. Katherine laughed and nudged her back. 

“Counting down the seconds to it,” Katherine said. 

“Me too.”

Sarah smiled at her, and Katherine smiled back. Their eyes met in the dimness of her room- with the sun setting on the opposite side of the cabin, and the oil lamp left unlit in the corner. Katherine’s smile grew a bit, and Sarah’s did too before she looked away, focusing on anything but Katherine. It was hard to try and seemed interested in something in her own room. If she had a lick of artist talent, Sarah could draw her room from memory, from any angle with every little trinket she had visible. 

Sarah cleared her throat, and Katherine suddenly stood up to look at her little shelf. 

“All these from places you’ve been?” Katherine asked curiously. Sarah nodded, moving to sit on her bed so that she could rest her back against the wall. 

“Mostly. Some of it’s from when I was still agin’ little girl Sarah… used to wear those earings in the little glass box there? All the time. Refused to take them off despite the fact that ten year olds weren’t supposed to be wearing things like that. Guess, our family used to be in the upper class back then… so not many people cared all that much,” Sarah explained. “But yeah, stuff from around the world. Kinda the only thing I bother with collecting.”

“Sad thing is I probably have more dresses than you do trinkets,” Katherine laughed lightly as she picked something up, and then set it down again. 

“They all look so lovely though,” Sarah said. They turned to each other with smiles. “I’d give anything to be able to have some nice dresses that match what others wear now. Most my dresses are still from the nineties,” she laughed lightly. 

Katherine smiled and shrugged.

“Think we’re the same size? I could give you one. Little Katherine momento?” Katherine teased. Sarah laughed. 

“Maybe. How much for the one you wore to the theatre?”

“Oh you won’t be getting that one,” Katherine said as she sat back down next to Sarah on the bed, folding her dress under her legs as she crossed them under her body. “I’ve got this pink one though- I think it would look lovely on you, and it’s a much more casual dress.”

“Well, you should let me see it sometime,” Sarah said with a smile and a nod. 

Katherine nodded. 

 

They didn’t have much more time that they needed to waste before dinner was ready, and Ma was ushering them all to the kitchen like a herd of sheep. 

“It’s nothing special,” Sarah said as she sat down, Katherine taking the seat next to her, leaving Davey with the old rickety stool, as they didn’t have any extra proper chairs. Sarah had no clue what meals looked like at Katherine’s home. It certainly wasn’t fish stew with stale bread buns, Sarah knew that for sure. She just hoped it was enough for her. 

“So, Katherine, what do you do?”

“Nothing unlike everyone else. I write- papers and such, but, that perhaps won’t go anywhere,” Katherine said with a small nod, before she hesitantly brought the soup spoon up to her mouth. “I uh, schooling is important right now. I have a private teacher, takes up most of my time.”

“How old are you?” Ma asked. 

“Fifteen,” Katherine said with a small nod. 

“So you’re just a bit younger than Sarah,” Pa chimed in. Sarah, Les and Katherine laughed. 

“There’s only a ninety year difference,” Les joked. Sarah grinned and nudged him playfully. 

Ma tried to fill dinner with small talk, keeping the conversation mostly on Katherine and her home life. Whether or not she was the reason that Sarah seemed to keep disappearing at the most random times (she had been, which Katherine ended up apologizing profusely to, despite the protests of everything, and Pa insisting that they had only been teasing her about it) and if she had any plans for her future. 

Katherine, after glancing at Sarah nervously for an answer, kept it vague and just answered with a simple, “not sure yet.”

Les helped Ma clean up once they were done. Sarah lead Katherine into the parlour, while Pa and David remained sitting in the kitchen. 

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to tell the truth about that last question,” Katherine admitted. Sarah shook her head. 

“The last thing my family needs to know right at this second is that you plan to drink from the spring,” Sarah said, keeping it hushed so no one around them could hear. 

Despite that though, both of them looked up to see a shocked David standing in front of them. 

“You’re getting her to  _ drink _ ?” he exclaimed, much louder than Sarah had said it. Panic flashed across her face as she stood up. 

“Shut  _ up! _ ” Sarah exclaimed quietly. 

“I can’t believe you Sarah- how could you be so selfish about this,” David said, shaking his head. “You know how hard it is for us- now you want to get another person in on this f- fucking curse!”

At this point, Les and Ma were standing in the kitchen doorway. Sarah felt her entire face heat up. She looked back at Katherine briefly, before she turned back to her brother, wordless, unable to say anything. 

“I’m the one who suggested it first,” Katherine said as she hesitantly stood up. 

“Please Katherine, don’t cover for my sister. I know you do stupid stuff Sarah, but  _ this _ ? Wasn’t telling Katherine about the spring enough? Why do you need to keep pushing this stupid situation!” David exclaimed. Sarah scoffed and shook her head. 

“Katherine said it herself! Her idea- not mine.  _ She  _ wants this, and well, you get to be with Les majority of the time! I get lonely! Why  _ shouldn’t  _ I have someone to travel with! To help out a bit with money. To be able to talk to and to just have a friend,” Sarah argued. David shook his head. 

‘It’s selfish, is what it is. I don’t care if you wanna  _ marry  _ someone, you don’t bring anyone else in on this curse,” David said. “You should know that.”

“I bet ya if ya had the chance, Jack would still be seventeen right now, wouldn’t he? He’d be sittin’ with us as if he was part of the family. I’m not the only idiot here Dave,” Sarah said coldly. 

“Sarah,” Ma said, bringing all of their attentions to her. “We’re hearing this right?”

“Oh yes, have everyone turn on Sarah now!” Sarah exclaimed, turning around so her back was to everyone  _ but  _ Katherine. 

“Sarah your brother is right,” Ma said. Sarah shook her head. Katherine looked at Sarah, and then to her family. 

Sarah shook her head lightly. She knew Katherine was going to try and justify something. Katherine didn’t need to do that. It was Sarah’s issue. 

“Is this why you brought Katherine here?” Ma asked. Sarah sighed heavily as she turned to face her family. 

“Yes,” she said stiffly. “I… wanted her to be able to come to you guys while I was gone. I was going to come back once she was eighteen, and we were going to take off together.” Sarah shifted. 

“We weren’t going to tell you until it was done,” Sarah said simply. This was the exact reason why. Pa shook his head. Even Les looked speechless, a rare occurrence. 

“Katherine, would you please let us talk to Sarah alone?” Ma said politely. Katherine swallowed and nodded, before she quickly left out of the front door. Sarah grimace and look at her parents. 

“I can’t believe you Sarah,” David said, a phrase that seemed to have been uttered from his lips a thousand times in the past ten minutes. 

“She  _ wants  _ to,” Sarah said. “With or without me, she wants to do it. She told me herself before I even suggested it as a possibility. I’m gone for years at a time. If she drinks without me being here I can’t help that.”

“You shouldn’t have told her in the first place Sarah,” Ma said as everyone tricked out of the kitchen. “I wasn’t going to say anything when Katherine was here- but she shouldn’t know anything beyond your name. You shouldn’t have  _ ever  _ talked to her, actually.”

Sarah stared at her family, bottom lip quivering slightly as she sat down on the couch.

“She overheard me talking to myself. I couldn’t have  _ not  _ told her,” Sarah said with a small shake of the head. 

“You  _ could  _ have though. You could have seen her, and then walked away and we all know that that would have been the better option Darling,” Pa said as he sat down next to her. “We don’t want to yell at you. We don’t want to argue, but you didn’t do the right thing here.”

“Speak for yourself Pa, I’ve wanted nothing but to tell her off for  _ all of this _ since I found out,” David said harshly. Sarah’s eyes darted up to him, nothing but hurt and betrayal aimed at him. 

“David,  _ please _ ,” Pa said with a small shake of his head. 

“Just leave, Dave,” Sarah said coldly. “Go sit on the roof and brood about your boyfriend like you do every night. You can’t tell me off for telling Katherine if you’re still not over Jack.”

“Who?” Ma and Pa said in unison. David shook his head, and the next thing Sarah knew he was out the door too. 

“Who were you talking about now?” Ma asked. Sarah shook her head. She knew she shouldn’t have said anything the second the words left her mouth. David trusted her little enough as it was, and he trusted her to keep that information private. 

“It was a long time ago,” Sarah said with a small nod. “I uh, a long time ago…” 

She didn’t say anything more. 

“We don’t want to upset you Sarah,” Pa said. “But none of us- you included, deep down somewhere, know that Katherine shouldn’t drink. She’s got a life ahead of her, she’s got a chance to live it to it’s fullest.” 

Sarah sighed heavily and wiped at her eyes. 

“We’re disappointed, I hope you know that,” Ma said. “And we do  _ not  _ support it. Not one bit.”

Sarah nodded. Pa tried to put his arm around her, but Sarah pushed it off quickly and stood up. 

“I’ll talk to Kath in the morning,” Sarah said with a small nod. “I’ll convince her not to. I promise,” she said, wiping away harsher at her eyes. 

“Please though… just let me go to my room,” she said weakly, before she rushed into her room, and then locked the door. 

She sat down at the edge of her bed, before she noticed two sets of legs dangling from the roof. She swallowed thickly, sniffed and wiped at her eyes before she opened her window slowly. What on earth were Katherine and Davey saying to each other?

“My point to all this, Katherine, is that I’ve been where Sarah is,” Davey said. “And uh- I haven’t told  _ anyone  _ about this. Not even Sarah- but I’m going to tell you.”

“This about that Jack guy Sarah mentioned?” Katherine asked hesitantly. There was no response, but instead David went on to talk. Sarah slowly inched towards the head of her bed to listen. 

“I met him- Jack Kelly, while Les and I were in New York. Uh, _ eighteen ninety nine _ . We took up jobs as Newsies for a while, ended up in this huge mess of a strike and uh… well, by the end of it, once the strike was settled, Les and I planned to take off again. All the boys thought that we had been in school before we joined them. So, the plan was to tell them we were going back and wouldn’t be around anymore… but uh… well Katherine I know you’ll be repulsed by this but… I’m a homosexual… and uh… Jack, the night that I was going to tell him I was leaving, took my up to the rooftop of his home, which was this lodging house that all the Newsies stayed at, but uh. I guess he knew that about me… somehow… because he kissed me.

“It went from there, I’m sure you’re probably thinking the right thing about what happened that night… but- I didn’t want to lose that. Even if it was just going to be nothing more than sex, which it wasn’t by the way, I thought it at the time though. So, I told Les that we didn’t have enough money to take off again yet, and we stayed. Kept selling papes, and continued living this whole lie… because before I knew it, I was in love with this idiot who was in love with me too. I uh, I  _ never  _ thought that I’d ever be able to have anything with anyone like that. Actually, the reason why we ended up here, and at the spring and drank, was because I was supposed to be hung for being gay back in e _ ighteen thirty two. _ That’s not the point of the story right now,

“The point is… all I wanted to do was tell Jack about the spring. To tell him of my immortality. To tell him about how I’ve been alive for nearly a hundred years at that point. I wanted  _ nothing  _ more than to bring him home with me, and to have him drink from the spring so that we could be together. That’s all I wanted… because I couldn’t- I still can’t, see myself loving someone as much as I loved Jack Kelly.”

David cleared his throat, and there was silence between the two of them.

“So why didn’t you?” Katherine asked softly. Sarah wiped at her eyes, which were steadily tearing up now. He was telling Katherine- a girl that Sarah was sure David despised just because of her association with Sarah about what happened in New York, yet he would never tell this to Sarah. A part of Sarah didn’t want to listen beyond this, but she stayed put, head resting on the window sill. 

“Well, for years I dwelled on the fact that we were stuck like this… why would I want someone I love to be trapped here with me?” David said, before he sighed heavily. 

“But… if you loved him- if you thought he was the one to spend forever with…”

“He was. I know he was- I’ll never find someone as special as him, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I just… I kept thinking about it and thinking and… I wanted Jack to have a life. He had friends- so many friends in New York. If I took him away from that, where would all those boys be? They all looked up to Jack as if he was a god. They’d be lost without him.

“So I didn’t tell him. Les and I stayed in New York much longer than we should have. Before I even knew it, it had been a year. Course, Les is technically only nine, so it was really obvious that he seemingly hadn’t aged a bit and the boys started noticing. I knew then that we had to leave soon but… I couldn’t bring myself to leave Jack. He was my everything, he was something that gave my life meaning again.

“Well, one day, my fate was decided…”

Again, they both went silent. Sarah didn’t know what was happening up there, but she noticed their legs shifting around just a bit. 

“Jack and I had been spotted- I still don’t know how, by this guy… He uh, wasn’t a good fella. Not one of our Newsies, but he was our age, I guess, and naturally he wanted to take things into his own hands. He cornered us while we were walking back to the lodging house late at night and uh, questioned us about it. It went south fast… and I was shot, before he ran off. Jack was unharmed, but he was sure that I was about to die.

“He came over to me, panicked. There was a bullet wound in my shirt, and blood was all over the pavement and I was just recovering from the shock and all I could see was Jack  _ sobbing  _ in front of me, trying to comfort me in any way but… I wasn’t about to fake my death in front of Jack. I wasn’t gonna leave him like that.

“So, I sat up, and showed him that I was fine. There was no way I could say that the bullet missed me… the bullet was clearly in my chest- I could show it to ya if you want, it’s still there, but he was shocked. I told him everything you know- the spring, how Les and I can’t die and uh… he didn’t take it as well as you did. He panicked, thought we had sold our souls to the devil or something… I told him I loved him, I tried to get him to calm down, but I knew right that second that Jack and I could never be together again. It was over… and… there was no way I could try and get him to come back to me. 

“Les and I left that morning. We got tickets for this ship, and ended up in Sweden. I didn’t quit sobbing the entire trip there, sitting in our little third class bedroom. Les never knew anything- he just knew that I had gotten shot. He doesn’t even know Jack and I were together. Sarah does, and Les knows that I like men but uh, Ma and Pa didn’t even know about him until Sarah told em just now.”

They went quiet again, and Sarah sniffed and wiped at her eyes. She had no idea- no clue it had ended like that. 

“I’d do anything to see him again. I’d do  _ anything  _ to find a cure, or to be able to go back and prevent myself from getting shot. If that hadn’t happened, I coulda dropped Les back off at home and stayed with him maybe… two years more. I’d do anything to give him the spring but, he’s early into his forties now… he’s older than my Pa… he’s probably got another nineteen years left to live,” he said, his voice finally starting to break down. “And I’ll never see him again.”

“I’m sorry…” Katherine said so softly that Sarah almost didn’t hear it. 

“But… I’ve gotten updates- from papers, from people talking. He’s a famous painter now- rich and living cozy in New York, uh, probably still in Manhattan. I’ve seen him get married, have a kid, he uh, always claimed he liked men as much as he liked women… He’s donated so much money to orphans and the newsboys, especially now that their need is starting to disappear a bit. I’ve seen him do everything I’ll never get to do, because I gotta live a life of hiding, and keeping outta public eye, and moving around. Sarah, Les, all of us gotta live like this forever. 

“I betcha if you got Sarah to tell you the truth, she’d want you to live out your life, naturally. She’d want you to get old and have a family and… you said you liked to write? She’d want you to be able to become a famous reporter. I know I wouldn’t wish away Jack’s life for anything- as much as it hurts me to know he’s moved on, and he ain’t thought about me in years probably… It makes me beyond happy knowing the love of my life is happy, and has lived a good life.”

Sarah swallowed thickly, before she quietly shut her window. She had heard enough. It broke her heart into a thousand pieces, just that one conversation. He was telling Katherine not to drink, that Sarah didn’t want her to drink (but, now that she thought about it, did she really want Katherine to that?) and he told her that they all felt trapped in their own lives. The worst part? Sarah had never heard that story. Ever. David told Katherine before he told Sarah, and it was so much more horrible than Sarah thought it was going to be like. 

She watched as the two jumped down from the roof, Katherine not nearly doing it as graceful as David did. Both of them had clearly been crying lightly. Katherine said something, and then David nodded, before the two of them hugged. Then, they talked a bit more before Katherine turned around on her heels and began walking down the path back home. 

Without hesitation, Sarah rushed out her room and the front door to meet David before he came back inside. 

“Davey…” Sarah said softly as he approached. “I didn’t know…”

“You heard it all?” David said. Sarah nodded quickly. He sighed. 

“Well now you do. He called me Davey, he refused to call me anything but that and uh, Mouth,” he said with a small laugh. “That’s why I hate it when you call me that. That was Jack’s nickname- even if you used it first. He’s the one who used it the most.”

Sarah nodded again. 

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” she asked. 

“I didn’t want to,” David said simply, before he slipped inside. Sarah stared at the doorway blankly, before she wiped at her eyes once more before he entered the house as well, feeling as empty as she had ever felt in her life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, it's been a while. Sorry about that. I kinda lost all motivation to write anything the past three weeks, but I'm back now! I'm going to finish this guy ASAP so I can focus on my other two stories, so hopefully I'll have the last three chapters up sometime this week? We'll see. No promises, but my plan is to try.


	10. The Goodbye

Sarah sat, watching the empty path towards town blankly. She hadn’t said a word to David in four days. She hadn’t seen Katherine since then either. Katherine hadn’t come by, she didn’t meet Sarah by the spring, nothing. Sarah couldn’t even go and check up on her if she wanted to. She had no clue where Katherine lived. 

Part of her was hoping that she’d show up, walking up the path with a bright smile. The other part of her, the one yelling and clawing inside of her, was for sure telling her that Katherine would not be back. 

She hoped that that part was wrong. She at least wanted to say goodbye to Katherine, to remind her that while David had a shitty experience with wanting someone to drink, Katherine didn’t need to base her decision on his. It was beyond selfish to  _ still  _ want Katherine to be on her side, she knew that. Deep down, Sarah knew that Katherine wasn’t going to drink- but the other night wasn’t the last night that she’d see her. Sarah would make sure of that. 

Sarah sighed heavily as she turned her attention back to the novel in her lap. There was no use gazing down the path to get lost in her own thoughts. The book in front of her was a lovely distraction to everything and she hadn’t actually began to read it since she sat down on the grass. She took the effort to bring out a little blanket and everything to sit on with the intention to read her novel- which, she had already read twice- yet here she was doing anything but that. 

Behind her, Pa and David were carrying in firewood from the shed, bringing it into the house while they chatted about the weather, which evolved into David’s travel plans the next time they ended up behind Sarah. She kept her gaze on her book though. The talking was simply white noise, once she managed to tune them out. 

The page was filled with words, hundreds of little words that were creating a story, but not a single one was processing in Sarah’s brain. She kept rereading the first sentence, but the only thing on her mind seemed to be Katherine. 

Which was stupid. Katherine should not have been on her mind for the past four days. What was life going to be while Sarah was traveling? She couldn’t dwell on Katherine. She couldn’t talk to her ever. Maybe she could write a letter, but Katherine would never be able to reply, so what was the point? Why write if you’d never get a reply. 

She sighed heavily, leaning back until she was laying down, staring up at the cloudless sky. At this rate, she just wanted the week to be through so that she and Les could take off. Sarah hadn’t bothered to start planning their trip at all yet, but she knew she would figure something out eventually. If not, the two of them could just wing it. 

“Well I say if wes fishing, we should bring the little man ‘round with us. He probably hasn’t gone fishin’ in  _ years _ ,” Pa said, his voice fading as he and David wandered back down the path. 

“Think there’s enough room in the boat?” David asked. Sarah sighed heavily. If the boys went fishing, Ma would most likely try and sit down with Sarah and talk with her. Perhaps not about the current pressing issues, but about  _ something _ . As much as she loved her family, the one thing she did not love was her mother’s small talk. Sometimes it seemed like she was living in eighteen ten, not nineteen twenty. 

“... but personally, that’s just my opinion.”

“David, you’re a smart boy, but that is  _ one  _ thing you are wrong about.”

“I’m just saying…” The door shut behind them, and Sarah finally started to read her book. 

She didn’t know what had clicked in her brain that started making it work again, but the gears were turning, and the words slowly started to process again. In fact, she had tuned so much into it, that by time David, Les and Pa exited the cabin again, she hadn’t cared to listen in on what they were talking about. All she caught was that they were heading out over to a pond. She gave them a small wave as they left down the path, before she shifted so that she was laying on her stomach and continued to read. 

It seemed like she had stayed like that for a long while after that, flipping the pages absently while the quiet sounds of nature surrounded her. 

Suddenly, a set of footsteps came from down the path, their shoes kicking up the gravel in a quick matter. Sarah spared them a glance, before she focused back down on the words in front of her. As they came closer, she flipped the page and continued her reading. It was just a passerby, probably on their way between towns, and she didn’t want to be caught staring. 

“Sarah!”

At the familiar voice, Sarah shut her book and sat up properly, before she glanced between Katherine running up to her and then to the cabin door. Hesitantly, she stood up and brushed off her skirt. 

“Hi,” Sarah said as Katherine slowed, before she hunched over herself to catch her breath. Sarah glanced back to the cabin once more. 

“Is… everything okay?” Sarah asked hesitantly. Katherine gave a short, small smile. 

“Depends?” she said. Sarah furrowed her eyebrows. Before she could open her mouth to talk, Katherine’s focus had turned to her purse, before she pulled out three pieces of paper. Wordlessly, she handed them to Sarah. 

Hesitantly, she took them, before she flipped through all three of them. The first one was a picture of what Sarah could only assume was the Newsies that David had been with, with David positioned in the front of the group, a bright red circle around him. The second was again a photo of the Newsies, though this time there had been  _ significantly  _ more of them, David again circled in bright red. The third was a blank piece of paper, with a drawing on it, roughly done, but very clearing David, with several jot notes sprawled across the bottom of it, most of which was so messily written Sarah couldn’t read half of it. 

She looked at them again, before she looked up to Katherine. She began to shake her head. 

“I don’t understand why you’re showing me these,” she said, slowly sitting down on the blanket. Katherine watched, before she followed suite, sitting down beside Sarah on the blanket. 

“I found them in my father’s office,” Katherine explained. “He had a uh, sketch artist come in a few days ago… and I found this-” she pointed to the sketch of David “- and then this morning he had the two photos clipped. I figured you’d want to know about this.”

“I don’t understand, no ones seen us,” Sarah said with a small shake of the head. “Unless… Gosh what was his name? Your father isn’t…”

“Joseph Pulitzer?” 

“Yeah that’s the name I don’t wanna hear.”

“Well I uh,” Katherine trailed off with a nervous laugh. “I didn’t  _ know  _ David was connected to him.”

“I have to show David,” she said shortly. “I have to tell everyone I… we need to figure something out.” 

Katherine nodded. 

“Well, yes, I’m aware of that, I just…” Katherine sighed heavily. “You don’t think he’s after him, do you?” Sarah laughed shortly, handing the papers back to Katherine. 

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I don’t know! I doubt he knows where you live… But obviously he saw him at some point since you’ve gotten here. He’s never had an interest in David, or any of you from what I know.”

“He saw us. David and I- in town a week ago,” Sarah said. “David was  _ so  _ worried this was going to happen, but I talked him down about it and… gosh if he  _ finds  _ us, Kath we’re screwed. He’ll…”

“I know. You don’t need to spell it out for me… I know what could happen.” Sarah nodded. 

“That ain’t him right now, is it?” Sarah asked as a man rounded the paths corner in the distance. Katherine looked over her shoulder, before her face went pale. Katherine nodded slowly, before she turned back to Sarah. 

“If we get inside now he might not notice the house,” Sarah said, dropping her voice down despite not having to. At the distance they were at, they’d have to scream for Pulitzer to recognize them. 

Still, the two gathered up Sarah’s things, before they quickly slipped into the cabin, keeping their bodies low to the ground until they were safe behind the closed door. 

“Oh, hello Katherine,” Ma said, giving her a small nod as she came into the parlour from the kitchen. 

“Hello mam,” Katherine greeted with a small smile. 

“I wasn’t expecting you back so soon,” Ma said. She crossed the two, before she sat down on the sofa. “Sarah, grab an extra cup, I have tea brewed here.” 

Sarah nodded before she quickly grabbed another cup from the kitchen, before she and Katherine sat down on the stools that faced the window, both watching like hawks to see whether or not Pulitzer was just going to pass, or if he was going to approach the home. 

“You two look like you’ve seen ghosts,” Ma said as she poured the teas. Sarah looked to Katherine, who looked back with the same clueless look. Did she tell Ma? She supposed she would have to. 

“We think Pulitzer, the man… David and I ran into, he’s outside,” Sarah said shortly. For the sake of Ma liking Katherine, she decided that she didn’t need to know that Katherine was related to him- her  _ father  _ for goodness sake. 

“Well that’s not good,” Ma said. Sarah nodded, before she sipped her tea.

“He looks like he’s passing,” Katherine said cautiously. Sarah nodded again. 

“Ma, if he comes… oh no he’s standing at the start of the path,” Sarah said with a small shake of the head. “We’re going to my room. Ma, he’ll recognize both of us. Just tell him you don’t have kids and he’ll be gone.”

“Right, of course,” Ma said. She wasn’t saying anything, but Sarah could see the disappointment in her eyes. She almost wanted to tell her how  _ it wasn’t our fault _ . Katherine didn’t think he would follow her. Sarah wasn’t the one who got her face in the paper-  _ twice.  _ If anything, that disappointment should have gone straight to David. 

“Well?” Ma said. Katherine and Sarah exchanged a confused glance. “Go on then! To your room, I’ll come and get you once he’s gone.” She shooed them. Sarah nodded, before she grabbed Katherine’s hand and tugged her down to her bedroom. 

They kept the door open just a crack, the angle almost letting them see the front door of the cabin. It wasn’t until there was a crisp knock at the door that Sarah clicked the door shut. 

She sat down on the floor, her ear cupped to the door as Katherine did the same, standing up and hunched over top of her. 

“Hello miss,” a low, eerily voice came. Sarah glanced up at Katherine, who nodded slowly, sensing that she was wondering whether or not that was him. 

“How can I help you, sir?” Ma asked. 

“Well, I was just taking a stroll out of town when I noticed your lovely home. It’s strange, for the longest place I thought this cottage was abandoned.” 

“Oh no, we’ve been living here a few years now.”

“Are you familiar with the people around these parts?”

“Can’t say I am,  _ sir _ .”

“Well, perhaps you can help me. I’m looking for my son…” 

Sarah slowly pulled away from the door, before she moved to sit in the furthest corner of her bed. Just listening to their all too conversation made Sarah’s stomach churn, and she just couldn’t do it. Katherine listened in a bit more, before she stood up and sat down next to Sarah on the bed. Sarah rested her head on Katherine’s shoulder. 

“He’s pretending David’s his son,” Katherine whispered. “Said he’s missing, your Ma is good at acting, pretending she doesn’t know who he is.”

Sarah sighed heavily as she closed her eyes. Katherine took her hand and gave it a small squeeze. 

“I’m sure he’s leaving right away. I think he’s buying it,” Katherine whispered. Sarah nodded shortly, before she opened up her eyes and turned to look at Katherine. 

She’d have to go. Or at least, David would have to go. Tonight, if possible. If Pulitzer was  _ that  _ close to finding him, he’d have to go. Sarah wasn’t ready to leave, and since Les was also with David during the newsboy strike, he’d have to go too. Which meant by default, since it was Sarah’s turn to travel with him, she would have to go. 

One long look in Katherine’s eyes, and Sarah knew that she really  _ really  _ didn’t want to go. Not yet. Not when she still had to patch up Katherine’s idea about the water and drinking. 

Unless, maybe, this was a sign to just let Katherine be. Let her make her own decisions. 

“It’ll be okay Saz,” Katherine said softly. Sarah nodded again, a small smile growing on her face. 

“I know it will be,” Sarah replied. “Eventually, it’ll have to.”

The minutes seemed to drag on as the two of them sat on the bed, just silently listening to the muffled conversation beyond the door and down the hallway. 

Eventually, however, the front door opened and shut again, and then Ma’s soft footprints started down the hall until her head peaked into through the door. She swung the door opened and stood in the doorway. Katherine sat up, moving to sit in the edge of the bed, while Sarah stayed in her corner. 

“You need to leave. You and the boys- the sooner than better,” Ma said with a stern nod. “I am not risking that man findin’ out about any of ye. Pa and I might just have to move too, just to be safe.”

“Oh come on Ma, we don’t need to take to  _ that  _ extreme of measures,” Sarah said, inching closer to the other side of the bed. 

“We do, Sarah. I don’t care if your tickets are for saturday- you three are leaving town  _ tonight  _ if I have anything to say about it, and I do, so you’re going,” Ma said. Sarah looked over to Katherine, before she looked back to Ma in disbelief. 

“You’re kidding me,” she said. “Tonight? That’s no time to get everything in order!”

"It's  _plenty_ of time Sarah. I want you kids out of the town as fast as you can. That man meant business. He wants to find David, and I'm sure it's because he wants to know why he hasn't aged at all. I don't want to risk a damn thing. You're getting your things, and you're getting out of here. For at  _least_ another ten years. Like I said we all might just be moving."

"But Ma, there's not enough time for me to get ready!"

“All you need to do is pack,” Ma said. Sarah looked back to Katherine again and swallowed. Ma’s gaze seemed to follow, before she sighed and shook her head once Sarah looked back over to her. 

“I’m sure Katherine isn’t going anywhere, you’ll see her again, I’m sure you’ll find  _ some  _ way to do it,” Ma said, before she shut the door and left the room. 

Sarah looked between the door and Katherine, unsure what to say. 

“Your Ma is right. You need to go,” Katherine said. “My father is… something else. He won’t stop until he has David… Les, probably even you.” 

Sarah sighed heavily. 

“I don’t want to leave you,” Sarah admitted. Katherine smiled. 

“I know… but she’s right. I’m not going anywhere. Three years and I’ll drink and then I’ll find you,” Katherine said. Sarah smiled as she stood up, before she tugged Katherine into a tight hug. 

“I was thinking that you wouldn’t want to do that anymore,” Sarah said. Katherine shook her head. 

“I’m counting down the seconds until I can drink… Even if you can’t get back here, I’ll find you somehow,” Katherine promised. 

“July fourth, nineteen twenty six. I’ll be at the train station here. I’ll wait all day,” Sarah said. Katherine nodded. 

“Okay. That’s when I’ll meet you,” Katherine said. “I’ll drink and I’ll find you and then you and I can travel the world.” 

The both smiled, before Sarah hugged her tightly. Katherine hugged her back, before she pushed Sarah around lightly. 

 

Katherine stuck around into the evening, the two of them lingering around the parlour, filling the time with small talk with Ma, as well as just the two of them. Hours seemed to pass in the matter of days as they droned on, the clock ticking quietly behind them. 

Eventually, once the sun had begun to set, Pa and the boys came in through the front door, each one of them holding a fish hooked onto a small wire. Before they even got their feet in the door, Ma was filling them in on the events that had just happened. The cheerful tone that the boys had brought in through the front door instantly faded away. 

Sarah swallowed thickly as Pa walked passed them all, taking all three of the fish with a promise that he would get them ready for dinner. 

“Least the reunion almost lasted three weeks,” David said, his gaze following Pa as he left out the front door. 

“I’m sorry David,” Sarah said, taking hesitant steps towards him. 

“Don’t be. You’re not the idiot who thought it was a good idea to get caught up in a  _ damn _ strike,” David muttered. 

“You can’t blame yourself either,” Katherine chimed in as she walked over to join them. “If anything it’s on me. I bet you if Sarah hadn’t seen me, and I hadn’t-”

“Katherine it’s not your fault,” Sarah said. “It’s got  _ nothing  _ to do with you.”

“Can y'all just  _ stop  _ pointin’ fingers?! Yous are all idiots- end of story!” Les raised his voice, taking the three of them by surprised. “You all messed up  _ somehow _ . Dave got us in the pape! Sarah told Katherine everything… _ I dunno what Katherine did _ , but you all messed up! We leave and it’s all okay! So just shuddup about it!”

Les crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at the three of them, smuggly taking in his moment of leaving the older kids speechless. 

“I’ll walk you out Kath,” Sarah said, before she took Katherine by the hand and guided her outside. 

They walked down the path, before they cut over to the more secluded path in the wood. 

Sarah hesitated, before she hugged Katherine once more tightly, just taking the time to breathe in the moment. 

“Two years,” Sarah said. Katherine nodded. 

“Two years. July fourth, the train station,” Katherine confirmed. 

“I’ll have the most  _ amazing  _ adventures set up for us. You don’t even know it,” Sarah promised. 

Katherine grinned, before it waivered, and fell. 

“So this is it then?” she asked. Sarah nodded. 

“We’re leaving on the next train we can… I’m sure of it,” Sarah said. 

“What if I drink now? I could drink and come with you!”

Sarah shook her head, taking Katherine’s hand in her own and letting it sway lightly. 

“Two years. When you’re seventeen,” Sarah said. “It won’t seem as long as it actually is. I promise. They’ll fly by… and the next thing you know you and I are going to be off to France.”

“I like the idea of France,” Katherine said. Sarah cracked a bigger smile. 

“France it is then.” 

Hesitantly, Sarah brought Katherine’s hand up and she kissed it, before she gave a small curtsy and let it drop. Katherine only laughed at that, shaking her head lightly before she tugged Sarah in for one more hug. 

“I’ll be counting the minutes,” Katherine said. 

“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's the last chapter. I purposely made it very anti climatic, I don't know how well that translated in here, but that's what I did. So uh, hope ya liked it. 
> 
> There's going to be an epilogue tomorrow, and then Tied to The Strike, which is obviously David's story, is going to be started probably in January? I want to finish up the other two stories I'm working on before I do anything else, and I've got one story that's going to be put ahead of TTTStrike so... if you're interested I think you can subscribe to series?


	11. Epilogue

Sarah hummed softly as she watched David come in through the front door of their small apartment, a newspaper tucked under his arm and a paper bag held in the other. The two of them had started renting an apartment in Brooklyn last month, and probably would be for at least a year or so. The entire family had gotten tired of moving around from place to place over the course of the past three years, so Sarah and David pretended to be a married couple and got an apartment, while Ma, Pa and Les got another, smaller one just down the street. David worked, and Sarah mostly stayed at home. It was boring, but it was nice to be settled and just have to focus on living instead of traveling. 

“I think you’ll want to read this,” David said as he put the paper down. “Specifically the third one.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows, abandoning the carrots on her cutting board to sit down at the little table. She took the paper, before she flipped open to the third story. She blinked in surprise at the headline; “ _ Woods to be Bulldozed for Amusement Park. _ ”

“That our woods?” Sarah asked, before she skimmed the article to find the information she wanted. “They’re taking down all the wood? Like, the entire thing?”

“Sounds of it yeah. Probably the cabin too,” David said as he took off his jacket, draping it on the couch before he joined Sarah at the table. 

“We haven’t been back there since-” Sarah started, only to be cut off by David. 

“Yeah. Weird to think about,” David said. “Makes me wonder how the horse is doing.” 

“Probably having the time of her life,” Sarah mused, before her attention went back to the article. “So that’s it then… the springs going to be gone.”

“It’s probably better that way,” David said. Sarah sighed, before she finally reached the bottom of the article. 

“Katherine wrote this,” Sarah said. “That’s her name, right there.”

“I know,” David replied. “Saz you know that she’s not coming, right?”

“Course I do,” Sarah said quickly. “I knew before I even got off the train it wasn’t happening… I still know three months later.”

“Hey, now we can both say that we’ve let the spring give us false hope,” David said, nudging her lightly. She cracked a smile smile and folded up the article, before she set it down on the table. 

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”

David laughed and shrugged. 

“You said she wanted to be a journalist?” David asked, before he nodded to the paper. “She got it. That’s always a nice thought, right? She’s going to go down in history. Making an impact on the world.”

“Reporting about a forest getting cut down,” Sarah said playfully. David shrugged. 

“You needta start somewhere. Jack started with cartoons in the paper. Now he’s got a gallery opening up in New York next month. Someday Katherine’s gonna own her own paper company and you’ll be glad to watch her go,” David said. 

Sarah smiled, before she got up and returned to her cutting board. She knew that David meant it, and she knew she agreed with it, but it still made her wish that Katherine had at least come to tell her face to face instead of just leaving her waiting. She tried not to dwell on it- she had three years to prepare herself for the rejection that she knew she was going to get, but it was still kind of hard. She had hoped… 

“Saz?” David asked. Sarah looked up as she finished the last of the carrots. 

“Yes?”

“She’s happy.”

“I know.”

“I hope you are too.”

Sarah hesitated. 

“Yeah… you too.” 


End file.
